The Friend of My Enemy is Also My Enemy
by Deliwiel
Summary: When someone from Tony Stark's life comes back seeking revenge, they set their sights on Spider-Man, thinking the new hero would be a good way to draw Iron Man out. Rated T for safety/paranoia, as well as injuries. Has Spider-Man and Iron Man in the story.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello! So I'm new to writing for the Spider-Man fandom, but not new to Fanfiction...I just love the new Spider-Man so much (I may have seen it 6 times already...) that I felt like I had to write a story for it.**_

 _ **So just a disclaimer, I'm not sure how much the MCU public knows about what happened with the fight in Germany in Civil War, so for this story, they don't know much... I've only seen CW once, so that would be why I don't recall.**_

 ** _Anyway. This takes place immediately following the end of Homecoming, so if you haven't seen it, I wouldn't read this because it does contain spoilers!_**

 ** _I wasn't sure whether to put it under the crossover section or not, so if you guys think I should, let me know and I'll make a final decision, but for now it's going to just stay as a Spider-Man story :)_**

 ** _I don't have anything to do with Marvel... :(_**

"May!" Peter yelped as he turned around, his mask slipping from his fingers and falling to the floor. "Wha-uh, why...this is-"

"What is this?" May asked incredulously. "Is this what you've been doing? This is what you haven't been telling me?!" she asked in a shrill voice, her eyes furious.

"No, this isn't what it looks like," Peter tried insisting. "This is...I got this suit for Halloween," he tried lamely.

"Halloween was two weeks ago," she said, giving her nephew a deadpan stare.

"I'm just trying to get a head start on-"

"Cut the crap, Peter!" May snapped, coming into his room and slamming the door. "Shut the curtains," she hissed as she noticed the busy street from the open curtains on Peter's window. She stalked over and yanked the curtains closed, and while she was turned away, Peter felt a strong desire to make a break for the bedroom door for a split second. May whirled to face her nephew again before he could decide to act on that urge.

"It's all starting to make sense," she muttered as she walked past him again. She started pacing, and when May paced, it almost always meant she was upset. She had paced when Peter came home from the Ferry incident, she had paced after Uncle Ben died...Peter felt terrible that she was pacing because of him again. "The sneaking out, the mysterious injuries, the dumb excuses…" She stopped pacing and stared at him.

"Were you _ever_ planning on telling me?" she asked. Peter opened his mouth, but May held her hand up. "Don't you _dare_ think about lying to me, Peter Benjamin Parker," she warned, her voice shaking as she stared at him. "Don't. You. Dare."

Peter shuffled, looking at his feet. "I just didn't want you to worry," he said finally. His statement drew a strangled chuckle from his aunt.

"Didn't want me to worry?" she asked incredulously. "Peter, I'm your aunt. I look after you. Of _course_ I'm going to worry about you, whether you're at school or out being a superhero," she said, bringing her voice level down slightly. She and Peter connected eyes and she held the stare, not letting him look away. "Tell me," she stated. Peter looked at her, confusion in his face.

"Tell...you…?"

"Tell me," May repeated. "Tell me everything. What happened, how long you've been doing this, I just...I need to know."

Peter hesitated; he knew that May deserved to know, but he couldn't bring himself to admit to the fact that she had caught him. Now that she knew, her life was in more danger.

"May, I...I can't tell you," he said.

"Can't, or won't?" she asked, sounding angrier than he'd heard her sound in a long time.

"If anyone ever found out who I was, they could go after you to get to me," he tried arguing.

"And at least that way I'd be a bit more prepared if someone ever _did_ come after me," May countered. Peter opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but her logic made sense. He ground his teeth, having an internal struggle with himself as he tried to decide what to do. Finally, he made a decision.

"Okay," he said, his shoulders slumping. He sat down on his bed, putting his forehead in his hands. He felt May sit down beside him, and he looked sideways at her.

He started from the beginning, when he was bit by the spider. As he told her about what he'd been through, he lightened the details about how much he got hurt, though he had a sneaking suspicion that she knew he was downplaying it.

He explained why Tony Stark had come to him, though he didn't give away any details about the fight with Captain America. He still wasn't entirely sure what had happened with that whole situation, but he was more worried about the woman sitting on the bed next to him than he was with the Avenger at the moment.

"What about when you told me you lost the Stark Internship?" May asked when he paused. Peter looked down again.

"I messed up big time," he admitted. "I thought I could do something alone, but things got bad, and people almost died. Mr. Stark showed up though," he assured her.

"That was you on the ferry," May said, understanding dawning on her face. Peter nodded mutely; he still felt sick to his stomach when he thought about how close everyone on that ferry had come to dying.

"Yeah, but I didn't save them," he said. "Mr. Stark did that."

May put her hand on his back and rubbed it lightly. "From what I saw and heard, you kept everything together until Tony Stark actually got there."

"Yeah, but they wouldn't have been in danger if it weren't for me," Peter said, his voice shaking slightly.

"And you know better now," May said. "You've learned from your mistake, right?"

"I guess," Peter muttered.

"So what else have you done?" May asked after a few moments of silence. Peter took in a deep breath and continued the story, explaining how he'd gone after Vulture, though again, he skimmed the details of how hurt he'd been.

"I hope Mr. Stark is grateful," May commented once he'd finished.

"Well, he gave me back the suit," Peter offered. "I think he's pretty thankful."

"Good," May said with a small sniff before they fell into silence again.

"Aunt May, I'm so sorry," Peter said after a few minutes, breaking the silence between them. "You have every right to be mad at me, I know. I won't lie to you again," he promised.

"Oh I'm mad alright," May confirmed. Peter's shoulders sagged slightly. "But I'm also proud," she said in a softer tone. Peter looked up at her, a small smile playing across his face. "I'm petrified though," May admitted, standing up and beginning to wave her hands around. "What if someone figures out who you are, or they somehow manage to get you with your guard down, or-"

"May," Peter interrupted softly as he stood up and pulled her into a hug. "I've got wicked fast reflexes now," he reminded her with a smile.

"That doesn't help," May said, though she said it while trying to hold back a laugh. She returned the hug though, and the two of them melted into each other. After a few moments of the two of them swaying in their hug, May released her nephew and looked at him.

"How do I ground a superhero?" she asked. "Cuz there's no way you're not being grounded, mister," she added when Peter opened his mouth to argue.

"C'mon, May," Peter tried to argue.

"No," May insisted. "There's no way you're getting out of this. What would you do if I took your suit?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and crossing her arms. Peter's eyes widened.

"May," he started. "I…"

He was going to argue, but Stark's words came to him. " _If you're nothing without the suit, then you shouldn't have it."_

Peter hung his head. "I'd respect your wishes," he replied, though it was done so softly and slowly.

May looked at him, slightly taken aback, as if she'd expected him to argue. "Oh…"

Peter bit his lip, waiting for his aunt's decision. She sighed after a few moments. "What am I gonna do with you?" she asked finally, sounding helpless as she grabbed his face gently in her hands and massaged his head. "I want to be selfish and tell you that you can't go out and do this anymore," she informed her nephew. Peter held his breath, waiting for her to finish her statement. "I should do that," she muttered. "No, what I _should_ do is call that Tony Stark," she interrupted herself.

"May, Mr. Stark wasn't the one that gave me these powers," Peter reminded her. "But I think we should actually be thanking him," he said, gesturing to the suit he was still wearing. "He gave me an upgrade to my outfit, and now I'm a lot safer," he pointed out. "Before, it was just me in a sweatshirt and sweatpants."

May looked at him with a deadpanned stare. "He's still enabling you," she argued, but she sounded less certain. "I just...I can't lose you," she finally said, uncrossing and then re-crossing her arms. Peter watched her with apprehension. She stared at him again, her eyes seeming to search his soul. "But you do too much good in the city," she finally finished slowly. Peter's breathing stopped for a moment.

"So…" he said, not wanting to assume anything with his aunt right now.

May's eyes misted over as she stared at her nephew. "I'm not going to stop you," she finally relented. Peter felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders, but he didn't jump and shout, like he was feeling so inclined to do. He did, however, grab her in a bear hug.

"Thank you," he muttered as he buried his head in her hair.

"Just promise me you'll be careful," she said, pulling away from him to lock eyes with him again. "I can't lose you too," she repeated. Peter's heart hurt as he saw true fear and pain in his aunt's eyes.

"I'll be careful," Peter promised. He was glad she didn't make him promise to stay out of danger completely, but he figured she knew that wasn't going to happen if he was going to continue to be Spider-Man.

May sighed, but she knew that Peter would keep his word, and would try to stay safe. "What am I gonna do with you?" she asked again helplessly.

"I love you," Peter said, trying to distract her even just a tiny bit. She turned sharp eyes on him.

"Don't think I can be distracted so easily," she warned, though her tone was lighter than it had been during their whole conversation. "You're still in huge trouble," she reminded him.

"How can I make it up to you?" Peter asked.

"Ideally?" May replied. "Go back in time and stop yourself from being bitten by the spider," she stated. "Though since time-travel isn't possible as of yet, going grocery shopping and cooking dinner for the rest of time should be a good start," she said. "You can also clean the entire apartment," she added. "Every single nook and cranny."

Peter groaned internally, but he didn't argue. Compared to what she could have done, this was nothing, and he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"I'm also setting a curfew," she added. Peter's mouth fell open.

"May," he began arguing. "I can't...the city…"

"The city has lasted a long time without Spider-Man," she cut in firmly. "As long as you're out during the day, I think the city will be okay during the night."

"Criminals don't have a curfew," Peter tried.

"Peter," May said, her voice sounding strained. "Don't push me on this. Just be home by ten on school nights. When it's the weekend, we can talk about a slightly later time," she said. "But if there's a curfew, at least I'll know you're safe."

Peter wanted to argue, but once again, the thought about May not actually taking the suit away from him entered his mind, and he sighed in resignation. He was about to respond, but May started talking again.

"Also," she added, making Peter wince. He was slightly worried about what else she was going to say. "If you _ever_ break curfew, I _will_ take the suit away," she threatened. "Am I understood?" she asked, pinning him with a stare she'd perfected over the years, making sure Peter knew that this was a threat she would definitely follow through on.

"I understand," Peter agreed.

"Good," May said, placing one hand on her hip. "Now, I believe you have groceries you need to go get?"

 _0-0-0_

The man picked up the cup from the side table as he watched the news reporter on the screen. He sipped the liquid, gagging as it went down his throat; the taste was awful, but he continued to drink it, because it helped keep his pain bearable. He threw the last few drops of liquid into his mouth as the reporter continue speaking.

" _We're coming to you live from the scene of a crash. Witnesses say that one of the parties involved with the accident was none other than Pepper Potts, long-time girlfriend of Tony Stark. Thankfully, we hear that most, if not all the injuries are superficial, and that there should be no lasting damage to anyone involved. The other car fled the scene after it plowed into the side of Ms. Pott's car, and no one can seem to recall exactly what the car looked like._

The camera crew began panning around the crowd, focusing in on a few people as the reporter walked up to them and asked them about the car that had fled the scene.

" _I think it was some sort of sports car,"_ one witness said.

" _Definitely a black SUV,"_ another reported. After a few more witnesses expressed what size, make, model, and color of car they saw, the camera focused back on the reporter.

" _No one seems to know if this wreck was done purposefully, or if the guilty party realized who they hit, and are simply too scared to face the wrath of Tony Stark when he finds out what happened._

The man watching the TV scoffed. The people the news crew had picked out at random as witnesses played their part well, but he knew better; he had sent them over to the scene to give contradicting reports about the car.

Suddenly there was a lot of chatter from the crowd, and the reporter looked excited.

" _Speak of the devil, Tony Stark has just been sighted coming through the crowds! It seems news travels fast, and Iron Man doesn't waste any time when it comes to the woman he loves."_

The camera panned over the crowd once again and the man watching the TV growled as he saw Stark hurrying towards Pepper. The billionaire put his hands on his girlfriend's shoulders and looked into her eyes; everyone could see he was saying something to her, but no one was able to hear exactly what it was they were saying. Pepper kept nodding her head, looking shaken still.

Tony wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her out of the limelight, covering each camera lense he came across with his hand until they were out of the crowd. The two of them were followed by several armed guards, most of whom had been with Pepper when the accident occurred. Stark had a few men with him, but he usually felt the need to ditch however many guards he could.

There was a helicopter waiting on the ground, and Stark led Pepper over to it, helping her in. The redhead looked much more composed than she did when she first stumbled out of the wrecked vehicle as she settled back into the seat. One of the cameras zoomed in as close as they could on Stark and Potts, and everyone watching on TV could see that Pepper had several large cuts on her face and arms. She smoothed some of her hair behind her ears, wincing as she accidentally brushed one of the cuts on her face, though she didn't seem too bothered by the injuries.

"There's the Pepper I know," the man muttered under his breath. "Always ready to smile and wave, never flustered for even a minute."

Tony, who had climbed in next to her, was speaking to the pilot of the chopper. When he'd finished giving instructions, he turned and began fussing over Pepper again. The chopper took off, heading straight up into the air before it turned and headed for upstate New York.

The TV was muted; the constant talk of Tony Stark and his heroics was making the man's head hurt more than usual. He pushed himself out of his chair and moved towards the center of the room, limping heavily. There was a solid wooden table in the middle of the room that he made a beeline for. There was a chess board was set up on the table, and a few pieces had already been moved around. The man grabbed one of his knights, trading places with the queen piece on the opposite side.

"Your move, Tony," he said in his gravelly voice as he set the queen to the side of the chessboard. Pepper was Tony's rock; she was one of the only things that kept the billionaire from complete self-destruction. With an attack on her, Stark would be rattled. He'd be more likely to have his guard down as he tried to keep her safe, meaning it would be easier than ever to get revenge on the billionaire.

The chess board sat on the table, waiting to be played. With an expert eye, the man observed the remaining pieces. Colonel Rhodes was out of the picture due to some tragic accident a few months prior that he was still recovering from, so a bishop was removed from the board as well. With the majority of the rest of the Avengers either on the run from the law or in prison, there were very few other people the man knew Tony cared about. Research would have to be done to figure out who he'd be able to use to get to Stark. He figured it might be a little harder than an average search; Tony didn't have many people in his life that he cared about.

Grabbing Pepper seemed like the easy choice after Zeke crashed into her car, but the knew that she was too hot an item to take without being discovered before he was ready. She was constantly surrounded by guards and press; it would have been suicide to try and take her. The man absent-mindedly scratched his chin as he thought about who he could take, or what he could use as leverage. His beard was scratchy, and it wasn't as well kept as it used to be, but it did help to hide some of the scars and burns that covered his face.

He happened to glance over at the TV again, rolling his eyes at the next story they'd moved on to. The reporter was now talking about the spandex-clad newbie hero, the Spider-Man, or whatever they were calling him.

Something suddenly clicked in the man's mind as he watched the hero swing through the streets. The Staten Island Ferry had been attacked several weeks ago, by what almost seemed like alien tech. He remembered the news reporters praising Iron Man for showing up to save the day at the very last second, and the man began to wonder how Tony knew the new superhero needed help. His mind wandered back to the first time the Spider-Man had showed up, and after a few moments, the pieces clicked into place in his mind like a puzzle.

"The suit," he muttered, steepling his hands in front of his chin. A few minutes later, Ezekiel walked in. The sight that met him was one he'd grown accustomed to; steepled fingers, eyes lost in thought, staring off into the distance. His father was deep in thought about something, and with the way the corners of his eyes were tensed, Zeke knew it had to do with Iron Man.

"Okay," the younger man said, rubbing his hands together and breaking his father out of his contemplative state. "What's the next step?"

The burned man continued staring at nothing as he pointed towards the TV, where the Spider-Man story was just finishing up. "Him. We need to get him. That is our way to Tony, I'm sure of it."

"Wait, why would Iron Man care anything about the Spider-Man? We don't even know if they know each other," Zeke pointed out. The burned man finally broke himself out of his trance-like state and looked at his son.

"Trust me," he said. "I've got a gut feeling about this."

The younger man still looked hesitant, and the burned man sighed. "When have my gut instincts ever been wrong?" he asked, putting his good arm on the young man's shoulder and catching his gaze, holding it there.

After a few moments of thinking, Zeke inclined his head, admitting the fact that his father's gut instincts had never been wrong, at least not in recent memory. "Alright," he conceded. "So how do you want to do this? Do you need me to go out and grab him?" he asked, a fierce longing and desire in his eyes. Zeke had always been anxious to try out the tech that his father had, but the older man shook his head.

"No, this is something I need to do," he replied firmly. "You go get the boat ready. There are a few things we need to get to make sure the little spider can't escape," he added, turning to the TV and watching footage of Spider-Man climbing up the side of a building. How he managed to scale the building without any visible tech was a mystery to the man, but he figured at least for the moment, it didn't matter. He broke his gaze away from the screen, turning to face his son again.

"I will get my revenge on Tony Stark," he said, venom dripping from every word. "We might not be able to go after Pepper or Rhodes without being caught, but if Stark's got a personal connection with this new hero, that could very well be our way to get him to come to us."

 _ **Soooo... what do you think? Should I keep going? Should I stop posting it and just keep it to myself? Like I said, I'm new to the Spider-Man community. I wrote a small one-shot about the beach fight from the movie, but that was an already-existing scene, so it was easier to write.**_

 _ **And I mean... I tried to keep May and Peter in character... how do you guys think that discussion went?**_

 _ **Did you guys like it enough for me to keep going?**_

 _ **Got any ideas about who the bad guy is? Lol I probably made it fairly obvious...**_

 _ **Anyway. Lemme know what you think, if you guys want me to keep going!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Okay, well to say that I'm floored, blown away, grateful, etc. for the support the story has gotten in the first 72 hours would be a gross understatement. I'm so so so happy that you guys like the idea!**_

 ** _Thank you all so much! You're all amazing!_**

 ** _Disclaimer: I still don't have anything to do with these characters._**

Peter's music played at a low volume in his ears as he quickly walked out of the school building. His suit was in his backpack like normal, and he headed for the alley where he always changed, glancing all around him to make sure he wasn't being followed. When he was once again in his suit, he stuck his school clothes in his backpack before throwing it higher up on the wall so that people would have a harder time stealing it. The suit tightened around him as he hit the symbol on his chest, making it fit snugly against him.

It had been three weeks since May had discovered his secret, and she had finally let up on his punishment slightly. The two of them had started taking turns cooking on the nights they didn't go out to eat. While Peter he was happy he was no longer "grounded," he had to admit that his cooking skills had improved significantly. He was also secretly proud, because in the entire time he had cooked for the two of them, the fire alarm hadn't gone off once.

He pulled his mask on over his face as he exited the alley, immediately leaping for the side of a building. He began scaling the brick building, feeling such a satisfying feeling as he went higher and higher. He finally reached the top of the building and looked around for a few moments before he fired a web at a wall a few buildings down, swinging through the air with a holler of joy. No matter how often he swung around on his webs, it always sent a thrilling shot of adrenaline through his body.

After a few minutes of swinging, he climbed to the top of another building and perched on the corner, scanning the city.

"Hey Karen," Peter greeted. After Tony had given him the suit back, Peter found out that he'd been allowed to keep the different web shooters, and he was also able to keep Karen.

"Hey Peter," Karen answered. "How was school today?"

"It was school," Peter replied absently, squinting down at the street so far below him. He'd spotted something happening down the street from them, but it was too far for even his advanced senses to pick up. "Karen, can you zoom in on what's going on down there?"

The AI did as requested, and Peter saw three guys wearing ski masks with duffel bags slung over their shoulders. They were running through the streets, bowling over anyone who stood in their way.

Peter stood up, shaking his head and his shoulders as if preparing himself for a run. After a few seconds of loosening himself up, he took off. He swung through the air, watching as the men below him ran through the streets. A car honked as it was forced to squeal to a stop when the men ran out in front of it, but the driver quickly got out when one of the men in ski masks brandished a gun at him. The masked men got in the car and slammed on the gas, swerving wildly as they drove off.

"Okay Karen, you with me?" Peter asked, meaning for the question to be hypothetical.

"I'm always with you, Peter," Karen replied.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Peter said, rolling his eyes at the AI's straightforwardness. "Let's go get these guys."

Peter swung towards the street, holding out his hand and preparing to fire a web at the car, but he happened to glance around him briefly, and his heart froze in his chest. Michelle was walking through the streets, headphones covering her ears while she was engrossed in a book; she had no idea that there was a car headed straight for her.

"No!" Peter shouted, changing his aim from the car to his schoolmate. His web stuck to her midsection and he yanked, hard. Michelle flew towards him, barely escaping the path of the oncoming vehicle. She'd dropped her book, and her headphones had become skewed over her ears, but Peter was glad to see that she looked unharmed. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was slightly agape, and the look on her face would have been priceless had it not been such a heart-stopping moment for Peter.

Michelle stared at the car driving away, then turned back to Spider-Man, her wide eyes staring straight into his lenses. Her breathing was heavy, and her face was pale.

"You okay?" Peter asked, putting on his fake Brooklyn accent to disguise his voice. Michelle stared at him, still obviously in shock, but she nodded.

"Hey, are you okay?" someone else called from across the street. Peter looked around, glad to see that people were beginning to come towards his classmate to check on her.

"You're gonna be fine," he assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder before he shot a web at a building right in front of them, taking off after the car that had almost plowed his friend down.

"Thank you," Michelle called out belatedly, still in shock from almost being hit by a car.

Peter flew through the air, catching up to the fleeing car with ease. He soon passed the vehicle, getting a good distance ahead of it before dropping to the ground. He gauged the distance, then at just the right moment, he fired a web at the windshield, blocking the vision of both the driver and the passenger. The car began to swerve, and because of the speed they were going, when they began to swerve, they also began to spin out of control. Before it could crash, Peter shot another web as it passed him and caught the trunk of the car, pulling hard. The car stopped mere inches before it would have collided with a cement divider.

Peter released the webs he was holding and began walking towards the car, double checking his web fluid levels as he walked. Everything looked fine, so he turned his attention back to the bad guys at hand.

As Spider-Man walked towards the car, the doors opened and the three robbers spilled out. They turned towards Peter with anger in their eyes, and one of them pulled his gun from his waistband, aiming it at the superhero. Peter sighed internally, bored with how predictable criminals could be. He heard the weapon cock, but before the trigger was pulled, Peter had already shot a web and yanked the weapon away from its owner before sticking the gunman to the wall. The other two masked men dropped their duffel bags, both coming at Peter head-on.

"Hey guys," Peter said, hopping over one of them as they took a swing at him. "Whatcha doin'? Out for a little midday robbery? That's cool, that's cool, but I gotta say," he continued as he dodged a punch and fired a web, sticking one of the robber's feet to the sidewalk, causing the man to stumble and fall on his face. When that robber collapsed, Peter fired two more webs, sticking the man's hands to the sidewalk as well. "This probably wasn't the most wholesome activity you could have gone for. If you're really bored, I know of a great laser tag place just down the street," he offered, going into a roll and springing up, kicking the last man in the chest. The last man fell backwards onto the hood of the stolen car, denting the metal. "Though, I don't think you're gonna be able to go there anytime soon," he added as he webbed the last man down so he was stuck to the car. "That's whatcha get for makin' bad decisions!"

The men were struggling against the webs, but it was doing them little good. Peter felt proud as he looked around and realized that no one had gotten hurt, and there wasn't even any damage to city property.

"Sorry guys," Peter said with a shrug as he walked around, making sure the webbing would stick until the authorities arrived. "This is what happens when you decide to rob...wherever it is you robbed," he finished. "Maybe next time decide on a better bad-guy team-building exercise?" he suggested. A crowd was starting to gather around them, and Peter could hear sirens in the distance.

"Make smarter choices next time!" he called out as he swung away, leaving the robbers in the hands of the capable cops who were just pulling up.

He swung back to where he'd left Michelle, glad to see that she was alright. There were a few paramedics around her, checking her out and making sure she was fine. Typical Michelle though was pushing their hands away, telling them that she was fine. Peter let out a small chuckle as he watched his classmate interact with the medics from a decent distance away. He was just about to turn and leave when the hair on the back of his neck rose.

"Good job," a voice from behind him said. Peter turned around quickly and saw a middle-aged balding man talking to him. The man had scarring and seriously bad burns all over his face and hands, though some of it was covered by a salt-and-pepper beard. When the man took a step forward, Peter noticed that he walked with a heavy limp, and one of his hands was gloved. Even though Peter knew the man couldn't see his eyes through the lenses, he tried to keep his gaze away from the injuries.

"Eh, it's what I'm here for," Peter replied with what he hoped was a nonchalant shrug, his voice sounding muffled slightly under the mask.

"You know, your suit is pretty amazing," the man continued, looking Peter up and down. The young man was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable, but he figured the man was only being nice, so Peter decided to bypass his creeped-out feeling.

"Thanks," he replied.

"How'd you make it? How does it work? Where do the webs come from?"

The look in the man's eyes, plus the way he was asking the questions was making Peter feel even more uncomfortable than before, and he almost sighed in relief when he heard someone yelling down the street.

"Sorry, that's my cue," he apologized. He didn't wait to see if the man responded as he fired a web at a building and swung off in the direction of the ruckus. Once he reached the top of one of the buildings, he glanced back towards the ground where he'd taken off from. Chills ran up and down his spine when he realized the burned man was still watching him; that wouldn't have been weird on it's own, seeing as how people were always watching him. What sent shivers through Peter was the look in the man's eyes. Thanks to Karen's enhanced...everything, he was able to zoom in on the man's face, and he could see something sinister in his expression.

Someone yelled again, jerking Peter out of his intense study of the man. He looked down at the ground and saw someone running through the streets with a purse clutched to his chest. The woman the purse belonged to was trying to keep up, but she was in heels, and the thief was quickly outpacing her.

Peter stood up from his crouch, the image of the creepy man quickly fading from his thoughts, though it lingered there in the back of his mind for a little while longer. He shook his head, mentally telling himself to snap out of it. He fired a web and swung down, speeding through the air after the purse thief.

What Peter didn't notice was that while he was soaring through the air, the man was still watching his every move, a slow smile creeping over his face.

"I'm comin' for you, Tony," he muttered as he abruptly turned, pushing his way through the crowded streets of New York and disappearing into the flood of people.

 _0-0-0_

 _A Few Days Later_

As Peter was swinging through the streets, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, Karen began speaking in his ear.

"Incoming call from: Tony Stark," she announced, flashing Tony's face across the screen. The call was accepted, but Peter was slightly apprehensive as to why the billionaire was calling him.

"Kid," Mr. Stark greeted as the call was answered. Peter swung up to the roof of the nearest building so that he could focus on the man speaking to him.

"Hey Mr. Stark," Peter said, confused as to why the older man would be calling him. "What's up?"

"Listen, I just got an alert from Pepper. One of the files on our servers was almost broken into," he said. Peter was confused as to why that pertained to him, but he decided to let Stark finish his train of thought before interrupting him. "The file they were trying to hack onto was the your suit design. You didn't have your friend try to break in to figure out different specs for the suit again, did you?"

"What?" Peter asked, trying not to sound too offended. After all, he _had_ hacked the suit once before. "No sir," he promised. "I wouldn't ask Ned to do that again. I didn't have anything to do with it this time, I promise," Peter said, hoping the older hero believed him.

"Oh don't get so uptight," Stark said, though he almost sounded disappointed. "I figured you wouldn't be that dumb. But that does present us with a slightly bigger problem," he continued.

"What's that?"

"Someone is trying to figure out how your suit ticks," Stark explained. "Part of me actually hoped it _was_ you, just so that I could give you a solid chewing-out and then be done with the whole situation."

"Uh...thanks, I think?" Peter said, crinkling his nose, unsure of how he was supposed to take that comment.

"Anyway, we've got this under control," Stark said, bringing the conversation to a close. "Just keep your head low, and let me know if anything weird happens," he said.

"Will do, Mr. Stark. Hey, I saw something about Ms. Potts on the news; is she okay?" Peter asked as he remembered seeing something about a car crash.

"Yeah, she's good," Tony replied, though Peter could tell from the tone of the older man's voice that he was more stressed than he was letting on.

"Do you need me to do anything?" Peter asked before the billionaire hung up.

"No," Tony replied immediately. "Like I said, we've got everything covered. I'll be in touch."

With that, the call was ended, and Peter sat on the corner of the building rooftop.

"How did someone even figure out that Mr. Stark was the one that made my suit?" Peter muttered out loud to himself. He shook his head after a few minutes of thinking. He glanced at his phone, checking the time. May's curfew was still in place even though the rest of his punishment seemed to be waning, and he didn't want to risk his suit being taken away by getting in late.

He checked his web fluid status; he jumped when he saw the levels. He hadn't realized how low it was. When he reached for the pouches at his side where he kept the spare fluid, he realized he only had one left. Keeping the web slinging to a minimum was probably the best thing he could do at the moment, at least until he could get to school and make some more. He slipped the vial back in place and began climbing down the building.

 _0-0-0_

Peter stuffed his suit into his backpack, hopping on one foot as he tried to get his last shoe on. When he was finally fully dressed again, he exited the alley. The apartment he shared with May was about three blocks away, and as he started walking, a chilly breeze blew through his hair. Goosebumps began to raise on his arms, and he honestly couldn't tell if it was just the cold, or if his high-alert senses were going off. He glanced around him, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so he stuck his hands in his pockets and ducked his head, trying to keep out of the cold as much as he could.

Walking the way he was, Peter didn't see a man walking in the opposite direction, coming straight at him until Peter had collided with the man. The high schooler began to fall over, but thanks to his quick reflexes, as well as an iron-tight grip on his arm, he didn't hit the ground.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry," Peter said as he was pulled back into an upright position.

"No problem, kid," a familiar voice said. Peter looked up when he heard the voice, and he visibly flinched as he realized the man he'd run into was the burned man from the street a few days prior.

" _What is he doing here?"_ Peter thought to himself, his brain running a million miles a minute as he inspected the man's face, trying to figure out why he was in the same place as Peter again. Running into the same person twice in such a short amount of time was unlikely, especially in New York. Peter began to feel slightly suspicious, and his eyes narrowed a small amount as he continued to gaze at the man he'd run into. The man caught him staring, and Peter suddenly realized what it must look like with him staring so intently, so he quickly looked away from the man's injuries.

"It's okay," the man said, pulling Peter's attention back to his face.

"What? Oh, no, I wasn't-"

"I'm used to the stares," the man assured the flustered high schooler, interrupting Peter's apology.

"No, sir, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Like I said, I'm used to it," the man said, waving his hand. "Just trusted the wrong friend," the man said as he gestured to his face with his gloved hand. Peter didn't know what to say, so he just nodded and looked around. His apartment was a little more than a block away, so he smiled what he hoped was a sincere-looking smile as he stepped back.

"Sorry, I gotta get home," he said. "My aunt's gonna be worried if I don't make it in before curfew."

"We wouldn't want that now, would we?" the man asked with a chuckle. Peter laughed, wincing internally as he noticed how nervous and forced the laugh sounded. He didn't know what it was about the man that made him act this nervous, but something about him was off.

"No, we wouldn't," Peter agreed, taking a few steps backwards before turning and walking towards his apartment building. He tried to keep his gait normal and carefree, not wanting to seem too anxious to get away. He turned around and gave a small wave to the man, who was still standing there watching him. Peter had a flashback to the first day he'd seen the man, how he'd watched Peter with the same look in his eyes, and he shivered.

" _You're just being paranoid,"_ Peter berated himself. Ever since Vulture had gone to prison, Peter had been looking over his shoulder, worried that Toomes was going to give his secret identity away. He hoped the man would be grateful enough to Peter for saving his life that he'd keep that bit of information to himself, but Peter could never be sure.

However, when he looked behind himself again, the burned man was gone, walking down the street with his hands in his pockets, looking like he didn't have a care in the world. Peter relaxed a little bit, but he still had a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach as he entered the apartment building.

 _0-0-0_

"Peter?" May asked as her nephew walked into their apartment. She was picking up a dish with dinner in it from the counter, but she set it back down when she saw Peter's scrunched-up face. "What's wrong?"

"Hm? Oh, no, it's-it's nothing," Peter said, snapping himself out of his thoughts. May's mouth slanted in a thin line at him.

"You promised, Peter," she reminded him. "No more secrets."

"It's seriously nothing, May," Peter insisted. His aunt kept staring him down though, and he finally sighed. "There was a guy on the street a few days ago after I stopped a robbery, and I just ran into him again just outside," Peter explained.

"What's wrong with that?" May asked. "How do you know he doesn't live here?"

"You'd remember him if he lived here," Peter assured her. "He's got burns and scars all over his face and hands; it looks like he was in a pretty bad accident," he explained, motioning towards his face and limbs as he tried to describe how the man looked.

"Hm," May said, picking up the casserole dish again. "Why do you look so concerned then?"

"Concerned?" Peter asked. "Nah, I'm not concerned," he said, not even convinced by his own argument. "I'm just...confused," he finally said. "Something about him kinda feels off, y'know what I mean?"

"Just because someone has scars and is burned doesn't mean they should be judged for it," May reprimanded lightly. "Besides, I don't even know what seems off anymore," she admitted. "Ever since finding out about...well, about you, I just don't know what to think about the world anymore."

"May, I'm still me," Peter said, glad they seemed to be moving on from the subject of the burned man.

"I know you're still you," May said with a small, almost sad-looking smile. "In fact, I think you're more _you_ than you've been in a long time," she admitted. "You're not as twitchy, or as stressed out, and you know why?" she asked, pinning him with a hard stare over her glasses as she set dinner down on the table.

"Because Vulture's behind bars and I don't have to worry about men stealing alien tech and using it to build weapons of mass destruction anymore?" Peter asked with a wide grin, even though he knew he'd been acting off since before he even knew about Adrian Toomes and the weapons deals.

"No, it's because you stopped keeping secrets from me," May said, smacking Peter lightly with the serving spoon she had just pulled out of the drawer. "Nothing good ever comes from keeping a secret from your friends and family," she added.

"I know," Peter replied with a small sigh. May was still railing him about the fact that he hadn't told her about his night job. "And I said I wouldn't keep secrets anymore," he reminded her.

Her lips tightened for a moment, but she soon relaxed.

"Well, sit down," she said, gesturing towards a chair. "I think the recipe turned out okay this time," she said, peering at the casserole dish and looking underneath, as if she was checking to see if it was burned.

Peter smiled. May was still furious at him for not telling her about his superhero-ness, but that would never stop her from caring about him. In fact, it made her even more caring. Which could sometimes be slightly suffocating, though he would never tell her that.

"It smells good," he offered as they both sat down. May spooned some of the casserole onto both of their plates, and they began eating. Peter's eyebrows went up slightly as he took his first bite, and he gestured at the plate with his fork.

"This is really good," he said, taking another bite.

"It did turn out pretty good, didn't it?" she replied with a smile after she took her own bite. They ate their dinner, both talking about their days. May talked about the strange people she had seen while she was at work, and Peter talked about what had happened at school.

Peter never wanted to talk about what he did as Spider-Man, but May wasn't dumb, and she watched the news. She heard about almost everything he did, and she would bring it up every now and then. Tonight, thankfully, didn't seem to be one of those nights. She skirted around the edges of bringing it up, but she never asked him directly about it, for which Peter was thankful. He was still trying to shake the feeling he had in his gut from seeing the burned man again, and he didn't need added stress of May grilling him about his acts as Spider-Man at the moment added on top of that.

When the two of them finished their dinner, May stood up and began clearing the table. "I got it, May," Peter said, hopping up and taking the casserole dish from his aunt. May relinquished the dish with a slightly surprised look, watching Peter with a small amount of suspicion as her nephew covered the food with foil before putting the dish in the fridge.

"Thank you," she said, not sure if Peter was trying to get on her good side for some reason. "What do you want?" she asked, the suspicion clear in her voice.

"Nothing?" Peter replied, walking over and clearing the dishes off the table, setting them down in the sink. "Just trying to help out," he added. He knew May was still staring at him with skepticism but Peter ignored the eyes boring into the back of his head. He really was just trying to help.

Finally, the dishes were all washed and in the drying rack, the food had been put in the fridge, and Peter was done. He turned to face his aunt. "I've got some homework to do," he said, planting a kiss on her cheek before he grabbed his backpack and walked into his room.

 _ **Holy long chapter...I'm sorry guys, I just didn't know where to cut it off, and I didn't know if you'd prefer two shorter chapters or one longer chapter... Next chapter will actually more than likely be a little shorter though, so *shrugs* maybe it's a good thing this one is longer? XD**_

 _ **Whatcha think? Thoughts? I wasn't sure what to think about it, so I welcome any and all feedback, as long as it's constructive and not a flame.**_

 _ **If you are so inclined to write a flame, please just let me remind you that I am not a professional writer, and that I do this purely for enjoyment; if you do not enjoy the way I write my stories or the characters, you are under absolutely no obligation to read my stories.**_

 _ **Lemme know what you think!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**So like I said, slightly shorter chapter today, but I hope you like it!**_

 _ **I was doing this on my lunch break at work, so if you find any mistakes, let me know and I'll fix them!**_

 _ **I don't own Marvel or Spider-Man.**_

"Karen, what time is it?" Peter asked as he swung through the air. The sun had set a few hours ago, and Peter realized he hadn't checked the time in a while. He lighted on the corner of a building as he waited for his suit to respond.

"It's currently 9:37 pm. Your curfew is in twenty-three minutes, and at your current rate of travel, it will take you fifteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds to get back home," came Karen's calm, cool voice. "I would suggest heading back soon."

"I'm going back," Peter assured the AI, standing up and turning around to face the direction his aunt's apartment was in. "May already thinks I'm hiding something, and I don't wanna make her any more worried than she already is. Maybe if I show up _before_ curfew, she'll stop being suspicious of me."

"You did lie to her about who you were for months," Karen pointed out. Peter's mouth fell open in slight indignation underneath the mask; if AIs were able to sound smug, or sarcastic, he was pretty sure that Karen was pulling it off.

"Yeah, I know I did," he said indignantly. "And I said I wasn't gonna lie to her again," he reminded the computer. Karen didn't reply, but Peter wouldn't have paid attention anyway. He heard a large crash coming from down the street, and he paused. "Karen, activate enhanced reconnaissance mode," he requested. The AI did as he asked, and Peter was confused by what he saw on the heat sensors. There were two smaller signatures huddling in the corner of an alley, and towering above them was a large, cold object, meaning it was more than likely metal, but Peter couldn't actually tell what it was. The direction the high schooler was heading was immediately changed as Peter decided to go see what was going on.

"This shouldn't take too long," he muttered to himself, webbing a wall and swinging down the street towards the abandoned alley where the two heat signatures were coming from. He touched down a few feet away from the mouth of the alley, and he jogged over to the opening. The sight that greeted him was basically what he was expecting. A large, metal, humanoid object was standing over a man and a woman, who were clinging to each other in terror.

"Hey!" Peter yelled as he began to walk into the confined space. As far as alleways went, the one they were in was actually decently large, but Peter still didn't like the confined space.

The large metal object he'd picked up on reconnaissance mode was a lot bigger than he realized at first. He didn't care though; as long as he kept its attention away long enough to let the people it had cornered escape, he was okay to take it on. As Peter stepped forward, the metal thing turned around. If Spider-Man weren't wearing his mask, people would have seen the web-slinger's eyes narrow in confusion as he wracked his brain, trying to figure out why the robot seemed so familiar.

"The Spider-Man," the robot replied in a deep, gravelly voice. The voice almost sounded triumphant, but Peter pushed that thought aside, sure that he was simply hearing things.

"Glad to meet a fan," the young hero replied. "Here's an idea: Why don't you let these nice people go and you come on out to play?" he suggested, assuming the robot was being remotely controlled by someone somewhere closeby.

"Because there's no fun in that," the robot said. Peter could swear that if a robot was able to grin evilly, this robot was doing it.

"Come on," Peter coaxed, casually glancing down to see how much web fluid he had left. The vials were basically full, so he turned his attention back to the matter at hand. "Why don't you fight someone who'd actually give you a challenge?" Peter casually invited, holding out his hands in a very "come at me, bro" way.

"You mean like you?" the robot replied, turning fully away from the couple. Peter was relieved to see that they began to sneak out from underneath the watch of the robot, though Peter did wish that they would hurry up. The hero began to back up, trying to casually bring the robot out of the alley.

"No," he admitted, trying to keep the robot's attention on himself so the couple would have more time to sneak away. "I was thinkin' more along the lines of Barney the dinosaur," he explained. A metallic chuckled emanated from the robot, and Peter smirked from inside his mask. The hero noticed that the couple had slowed down, and he knew he had to get them out of there. Knowing the robot was probably more concerned with the masked hero than he was with the two people he'd trapped on the streets, Peter waved his hand towards the two.

"Go on," Peter called out to the cowering couple. "Get out of here."

The couple clung to each other as they finally picked up the pace and raced out from under the shadow of the large metal object that had cornered them. The robot turned and made a move like he was going to try and grab the fleeing couple, but Peter fired a thick web at the visor of the robot, hoping he was blocking off the controller's vision. Another thick strand of web was also attached to the robot's arm to try and slow down the attack.

The high-schooler's distraction worked long enough for the couple to get away, and when the robot ripped most of the webs off the glass visor, his attention was completely focused on Spider-Man. The robot began marching towards Peter, and he was slightly excited to see that his plan to get the robot out of the alley had worked. His plan was good for the couple, but Peter's eyes widened as he watched the bot swing his hand around, intending to backhand the wall-crawler into next Tuesday.

He muttered a soft "Oh crap," before he sprung up over the hand, his senses alerting him of the exact moment to jump. It was almost as if he could feel the vibrations in the air as the robot tried to attack him, and Peter was able to jump over or duck under each attack. Finally Peter webbed a wall behind the robot, trying to get an advantage over the hunk of metal by attacking him head-on. However, as he was reeling himself in on the web, the robot swung his large metal arm around, grabbing the web mid-flight and throwing the high schooler through the air..

A yelp escaped Peter's mouth as he was flung around, and he hurried to disconnect himself from the sticky thread. Once he separated himself from the web, he flipped in the air and landed on the shoulders of the robot, grabbing the head so that he didn't fall off. The robot didn't like the spider being on his back though, and large arms reached backwards, fingers grabbing for the high schooler. Peter was forced to backflip off the droid, but thankfully the wall he had originally been going for was now suddenly within reach. He clung to the brick, turning his head so he was looking at the robot upside down. The cumbersome-looking droid had turned around, but Peter wasn't planning on giving the robot another chance to try and grab him; he sprung off the wall and reached his hands out for the droid, only a few mere inches away when a loud, high pitched shrieking pierced his ears, and he shouted in surprise and pain.

His hands instinctively flew to cover his ears, and he smashed into the robot's massive metal chest before he fell to the ground, curling in on himself as the piercing noise only got more shrill. "What is that?" he groaned, directing the question at no one in particular.

Though moving at all made his head pound in time with his heartbeat, he forced himself to roll away from the robot; his senses alerted him to the shaking ground as the large metal humanoid figure moved towards him, and he wasn't in the mood to get stepped on and squashed.

"Karen," he asked through ground teeth as he fought his way to his feet, hands still covering his ears even though it did little-to-no good to stop the shrieking in his ears. "Can you block the noise?"

"Let me see what I can do," her calm voice answered. A few seconds later, the noise was dialed back to a soft buzzing; still irritating, but it gave Peter enough ability to finally get up off the ground, take his hands away from his ears, and face the large mechanical being coming his way.

His head was still reeling and pounding from the high-pitched attack, but he knew he couldn't let that get in his way. His opponent squared off with him, and after a few seconds, Peter felt the vibrations in the air, giving him enough warning once again to duck out of the way of the large metal arm that swung his way. When he ducked though, it sent a shocking pain through his head, and it disoriented him enough that the robot's next attack was a solid hit to his midsection, and it sent him flying through the air, slamming him into a wall.

Peter groaned, but he got back up. His ribs were sore from the hit, as was his back, thanks to the introduction to the way, but he forced himself back to his feet.

"Karen, give me web combo forty-six, seventy-three, and twenty-seven in that order," he said. He had designed a system so that he just had to say the numbers for the web option he wanted, and it would automatically switch. Karen did as requested, and Peter began to take the offensive side again.

Web after web was slung at the monstrosity he was fighting, combos of web grenades, rapid-fire webs, and finally taser webs when the other two seemed to clog the gears on the robot's limbs. The electrified web hit the robot and began pulsing with electricity, and Peter was shocked as he heard groaning coming from _inside_ the robot. The fact that there was someone inside the suit stunned Peter; he was only able to stay in his state of stunned revelation for a few moments though; the mechanical arms suddenly moved with great force, ripping the webs away from the gears and giving the robotic arms full mobility once more. The metal figure swatted the taser webs away like they were nothing, then kicked out with his foot. Peter's instincts were screaming at him to move, but he was still trying to catch up with the fact that there was actually someone piloting the robot from inside, and before he could move out of the way, the heavy metal foot hit him in the chest.

Once more, Peter was slammed into the wall with a grunt before falling onto his face. He didn't give himself much time to recover though, because what he now realized was a metal suit of armor had began coming towards him again. He scrambled to his feet, but but had to duck out of the way almost immediately as the suit took another swing at him. What Peter didn't realize though, was that the swinging arm had been a false attack, and while Spider-Man had been ducking out of the way, his opponent was busy turning and grabbing a motorcycle parked along the side of the road. Peter grunted as he dodged the vehicle, going into a somersault as he tried to avoid being creamed by the bike. When he jumped back to his feet, he turned back to face the robot, who was now about twenty feet away from him, and he began to fire more web grenades at the metal suit he was fighting. Each time a web made contact though, Peter was forced to watch in growing dismay as the robotic man simply continued to rip off any and all webs that were stuck to him.

"Hold still, you twit," the metal man growled, ripping a pole out of the ground and jabbing it at Peter. Spider-Man's reflexes took over and he vaulted himself over the long object. While he avoiding getting skewered by the pole, he also realized he had put himself in closer proximity to the robot again. He began to back away, continuing to fire webs at his attacker. As he was attacking the metal man, he couldn't help wondering where this metal man had come from, as well as why the thing seemed so familiar.

"I said hold still," the voice repeated. Peter felt the hair on the back of his neck raise, and he was forced to stop contemplating the existence of the robot as he ducked, just in time to avoid being clobbered over the head with the metallic arm, which seemed to be the robot's preferred method of attack. The pole had been abandoned on the ground, and Peter fired a web, quickly bringing the long pole to him. He turned to face the robot, holding the pole like a baseball bat, but when he did, he was met with blindingly bright flares, and he was forced to bring his hands up to shield his eyes. The pole was dropped as Peter's fingers instinctively opened, sending the pole to the ground with a loud _CLANG_.

The robot took advantage of Peter's momentary blindness, grabbing the young man around the torso and smashing him into the wall. Peter gasped and kicked out, fingers scrabbling over the metallic fingers holding and constricting over his chest, but whoever was powering the suit had a tight grip. The high schooler's vision began to black out and tunnel in as he felt his ribs begin to bend. The pain was excruciating, but Peter was unable to do anything. Thankfully, right before he passed out, the pressure was relieved enough that he was able to take in a deep breath, but he'd barely gotten his breath in before he was lifted up and slammed back into the wall. The back of his head hit the wall hard, and he was immediately knocked unconscious.

 _ **Poor Peter...**_

 _ **Whatcha guys think?**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Okay! Chapter 4 is definitely the shortest, and I am sorry about that.**_

 _ **Also, are you guys enjoying this still? I'm not quite sure if I should keep posting or not?**_

 _ **I'm not sure if this chapter is in character or not, so please let me know...**_

"Sir," Happy called out, causing Stark to pause what he was doing, turning to look at the large man. "I put an alert on my computer to go off if the kid ever stayed in one place for too long, just in case he decided to take out the tracker again like he did in DC." Happy stared at Tony, who raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"I mean, are you wanting a congratulations?" Stark asked, not exactly sure what the man was trying to tell him.

"No, sir. It just went off," Happy clarified. "It looks like he's been in the same position for a little over an hour and a half; he hasn't moved an inch," the man explained, hitting a button and making the screen bigger so that he could show his boss. "You don't think he hacked it again, do you?"

"No, I don't think he's that stupid," Stark replied immediately, shaking his head. "He's not at school?" he asked.

"It's a Saturday," Happy reminded his boss.

"Okay, well, have you tried calling him?"

Happy opened his mouth, but Stark could see the answer in his bodyguard's expression, and he waved off the man's excuses. "It's fine, I'll give him a call."

Stark wasn't mad at Happy; he was more concerned with the kid. Either he'd hacked the suit again, or he was stuck somewhere. " _If it's the first option, I'm taking the suit away for good this time,"_ Stark thought to himself as he instructed Friday try to get ahold of the young man.

The call failed to go through, so Tony tried again. Three times he tried to call the high-schooler, and three times the call went unanswered. Each time the call disconnected, Tony got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that just progressively got worse and worse until he finally snapped to action.

"Happy, where's the kid's suit say he is?"

Happy looked at his computer screen, tapping a few things on the screen to give him a more definite location. "Hang on," he said after a few seconds, visibly getting frustrated as the technology continued to be stubborn. Tony sighed, giving Happy ten more seconds before he reached over and plucked the device from his bodyguard's hands.

He zoomed in on Peter's location, eyes narrowing when he realized the dot put the high schooler out in the ocean, about two miles from shore.

"What are you doin', kid?" Tony muttered to himself. He handed the tablet back to Happy and began to summon his suit. The metal armor began assembling around the billionaire, and Happy began speaking.

"Mr. Stark, I'm sure the kid is fine," he tried, but Stark didn't stop the final piece of armor attaching itself to his legs. Stark flipped the faceplate up, staring at Happy.

"You're probably right," Stark agreed, though Happy could tell the man was being slightly sarcastic. "He's probably out in the middle of the ocean for no reason. Everything's fine."

Happy sighed, but he didn't try to stop his boss as Iron Man took off, not that he would have been able to even slow the man down.

Stark hovered in the air, inputting coordinates to take him to the location the Spider-Man suit was in. His gut was telling him something was wrong, and over the years of being Iron Man, he'd learned to trust his gut feeling. "Don't wait up for me," he said, throwing a wink at his bodyguard, trying to alleviate the tense feeling.

Happy looked like he was going to say something, but he shut his mouth after a moment. He simply nodded, and Stark flew off, following the directions to Peter's location.

 _0-0-0_

Peter's face felt slightly cold; he wasn't sure why, and it took him several minutes of fighting unconsciousness to finally crack open his eyes. When he finally opened his eyes and looked around, he had to squint his eyes against the stark white expanse that greeted his vision. After letting his eyes adjust for a few seconds, he was finally able to open his eyes fully and look around. He realized he was inside a completely white box, with two small vents in the top of the ceiling. Peter wondered what those were for, but he pushed that curiosity for the time being as he walked to one of the walls, feeling around as if he could find a way out.

Something felt off, and it took him a few seconds to realize he was seeing everything with his own eyes, not through the suit's lenses. He brought his hands up to his face, noticing briefly that he was still wearing the rest of the suit, but he confirmed that his mask was indeed missing.

He glanced around in panic, trying to spot the red mask in the almost-blindingly white room. There was nothing in the room; a bench was bolted to the wall, which was what he'd been laying on when he woke up, but that was literally everything that was in the small room with him.

He was spinning around, trying to quell the panic rising in his chest as he searched vainly for the mask, even though he knew it wasn't anywhere in the room with him. He stopped though when he heard someone start talking, and he looked around in confusion.

"Hello?" he called out. Suddenly, one of the white walls turned clear, and Peter saw the burned man from earlier sitting on a chair outside, holding his mask. Peter's breath caught in his throat; he _knew_ something was off about that man!

"Mr. Parker," the man said slowly, still looking down at the mask in his hands. "It's nice to finally know who's under the Spider-Man mask. My name is Obadiah Stane."

 _0-0-0_

Peter stared at the man with a blank, confused expression. The name sounded slightly familiar, but it was more like something he'd remember from a dream.

"Who?"

"That's alright you don't know who I am," Stane replied. "After all, you must have only been six or seven when Tony betrayed me," he explained. The story still didn't sound all that familiar, but Peter wasn't about to ask for clarification; he was more concerned with getting out of his prison than he was finding out this man's life story.

Stane gripped Peter's mask in his hand like he was trying to strangle it as he looked up at the high schooler finally. "Why Tony decided to give you a suit is beyond me. Heck, Colonel Rhodes _stole_ one of his suits and Tony didn't take it back. Almost every single person on that stupid Avengers team has some form of Stark technology that was just given to them. What makes you lot so much better?"

Peter knew the question was hypothetical, but he couldn't stop the snarky response that escaped his lips. "Maybe because they're heroes who don't go around tricking and kidnapping people," he shot. He was slightly worried about Mr. Stane's reaction, but the older man just smiled.

"When I knew Tony, I was only trying to keep his company from crashing and burning; he was going to run it into the ground because of his attitude change regarding weapons. I helped him build that company from the ground, and he had no right to stop producing weapons without talking with the board first just because he got a little squeamish about what his weapons were being used for!" Obadiah said, his voice getting louder and louder with each word. "They're weapons, what did he expect?"

As he finished ranting, Stane began coughing with such intensity Peter was wondering if the man was going to collapse and start coughing up blood. He didn't though, and after a few moments, another door opened and a man in his mid-twenties walked in, holding a cup in his hand.

Obadiah accepted the glass from the newcomer, taking a large gulp between coughs. Finally the coughing subsided, and Stane drank more of what was in the glass, shuddering and gagging as the liquid went down his throat. He finally handed the cup back to the other man, who was glaring at Peter. Stane wiped his mouth, then caught Peter staring at him, not even trying to hide the fact that he was staring at Stane.

"Compliments of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts," Stane explained. "He has consistently opposed me...thwarted me," Stane added with a growl. The newcomer nodded vigorously in agreement, and Peter briefly wondered who the man was in relation to Stane.

The high schooler stared at the two of them, unsure of what to say. He didn't have to say anything though, because it was at that moment that an alarm began blaring, echoing all throughout the room they were in.

"He's coming," the younger man said, a hungry look in his eyes.

 _ **Sorry, kind of a weird place to end it, but if I didn't end it there, the chapter would have had like 6k words or more, so...I just tried to find the best place to end this chapter...**_

 _ **Okay, so what did you guys think? Do you want me to keep going? Let me know!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Well okay, it would seem that the unanimous decision of the reviewers is that I keep going, so keep going I shall! Thank you!**_

 ** _Lemme know what you think!_**

 ** _I own nothing of Marvel :'(_**

"Wait," Stane ordered as the younger man seemed to vibrate with excitement. "They don't know about you yet; you're my discovered attack. You need to stay hidden until the time is right."

The other man seemed to have an internal argument with himself about whether he should argue or not, but soon he nodded and turned, hurrying back through the door he'd come from. Stane stood up, and Peter once again noticed the heavy limp that Stane walked with. The metal leg was a good prosthetic; Peter barely realized it was fake, and that was only because he heard the creaking of metal and took an educated guess thanks to Stane's limping.

"Keep quiet now," Stane advised Peter before he disappeared behind a corner. Peter's forehead crinkled in confusion as he strained his neck, trying to see where the man had disappeared to. He realized after a few seconds that the attempt would be futile though, so he stepped back. Pressing his fingers into the corners of his cage, he tried to find anything he could use to help him get out, whether it be a crack in the glass or something he may be able to send Droney through.

Peter paused after a few moments of his search. He heard a faint sound coming from outside the room, though he couldn't pinpoint a direction the noise was coming from. A few moments later, that question was answered as a hole was blasted in the ceiling, and the question of what was making the noise was also answered when a familiar looking metal suit descended through the new entrance. Peter paused his searching and placed his hands flat on the glass, staring at Stark in slight horror.

"It's a trap!" the young man yelled, hoping Stark would do the sensible thing and turn around and leave before he got injured, or worse. Stark didn't stop coming though. He hovered above the ground, glancing around before he made his way over to Peter.

"You okay, kid?" he asked.

"Mr. Stark, you have to get out of here," Peter insisted.

"I can see you're saying something, but I can't hear you," Stark admitted. Peter stopped talking, slightly surprised. "Alright, stand back. Let's get you out of there before whoever did this comes back."

"No, Mr. Stark, you don't understand! Someone named Obadiah Stane is here, and he's got someone else with him. They took me to get to you! Mr. Stark, you need to leave, now!"

"Kid, just gimme a second and I'll have Friday fix things so that I'll be be able hear you," Stark said. He tapped the side of his helmet, then tilted his head. "Friday?" he asked, tapping his helmet again.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter asked, not sure what was going on. For some reason, he could hear Stark, but apparently the billionaire couldn't hear him.

"Friday?" Stark asked again. "Crap. Kid, there's some sort of interference with Friday; I'm gonna have to just blast through the glass. Step back."

"Wait, Mr. Stark, don't-" Peter tried yelling, but he was interrupted.

"I wouldn't do that, Tony," a gravelly, familiar voice said. Stark turned around, raising his thrusters in defense. He and Peter watched as whom Peter assumed was Obadiah Stane came into view, wearing the same suit he'd worn when he caught Peter, which the high schooler now realized was simply a much bigger and clunkier-looking iron man suit than the one Tony had on.

Peter heard Tony mutter a surprised curse under his breath.

"Wait. It can't be. Obie?!"

"Surprised to see me?" Obadiah asked, flipping his face plate up to reveal his scarred and burned face.

"Well yeah, just a little, considering how last time I saw you, you were being fried in your suit after trying to kill Pepper and me," Tony reminded the man. Peter's eyes widened, and suddenly he understood.

 _That's_ why the name had sounded so familiar. He'd heard stories about Tony's father-figure who betrayed him, but he had died. Or so everyone had thought, apparently.

"So that was you who tried to hack into the servers to get the specs for the Spider suit," Tony said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement, and one that Obadiah didn't deny.

"I thought I could get in," Obie confessed. "I wasn't expecting the servers to be as good as they were, especially if you were in charge."

Stark smirked at the older man, but Stane simply shrugged. "When that didn't work, we decided the best plan was to grab the Spider-Man suit ourselves. I was planning on using the suit to get to you, but imagine my shock and surprise when I found out that the new hero was just a kid."

"Why take the kid?" Stark asked, still clearly shocked about finding out Obie was alive. His shock was even obscuring the fact Obie was referring to 'us' and 'we,' meaning there was more than one person involved.

"Come on, Tony," Obie said. "You didn't think people wouldn't put two and two together, did you? When Spider-Man first showed up, I'd seen Halloween costumes look better."

"Hey!" Peter squawked indignantly, even though they couldn't hear him.

"Then later, after that whole debacle with Captain America, Spider-Man shows up on the streets wearing a brand-new suit. I helped you build your company from the ground up; of course I recognized a bit of Stark-built tech," he said. He glanced back at the caged high schooler with a thoughtful expression. "Though I have to admit, I didn't think you'd ever stoop so low as to bringing a fourteen year old to fight for you!"

Peter sighed. No one was ever going to realize he was fifteen.

"Well to be fair, I thought you were dead," Iron Man reminded his old friend, still aiming his thrusters at Obie. "Wasn't really planning on you coming back and exacting a revenge plot. How did you manage to keep breathing?" Stark asked.

"The suit kept me from being killed by the blast," Obadiah explained. "Oh, I felt every single electric bolt that came through, but the suit took the brunt of it. Couldn't save me completely, though. Crushed my leg and arm bad enough that I needed prosthetics, as well as this," he added, gesturing at his terribly scarred face. "But I guess I shouldn't complain. After all, I'm still alive." He looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Actually," he said, aiming his own weapon at Stark and flipping the faceplate back down. "I think I _can_ complain."

Obadiah fired the weapon, hitting Tony in the chest. Stark had anticipated the move though and twisted away in time so the blow only glanced off him. Iron Man returned fire with his own repulsor blasts, but Obie had already ducked out of the way. While the older man wasn't shooting at him, Stark turned and tried firing at the glass Peter was behind, causing the young man to flinch away. When Peter looked again though, the blast hadn't done anything to the glass. He was still trapped.

Stark prepared to fire at the glass again, but Obadiah decided to return at that moment, and their fighting resumed.

Iron Man began firing his thrusters, aiming for Obadiah's chest. The older man's suit was extremely durable though, and while Tony's thrusters did do some damage to the suit, it wasn't enough to stop Obadiah completely.

"Obie, this is between me and you," Stark said as they took a small reprieve, both of them trying to find the best vantage point to attack the other. "Let the kid go."

"Tony, Tony, Tony. You know I can't do that," Obadiah said, his metallic voice sounding disappointed. "Anyone who comes into your life is free game for your enemies. Betcha he didn't warn you about how many enemies he has, did he kid?" Obie asked, sparing a moment to glance at Peter, even though he knew they wouldn't be able to hear Peter's response.

While the burned man was turned away, Stark saw his chance and took it, flying at Stane to try and catch him off guard. Obie heard the suit coming towards him though, and he turned, backhanding Stark's suit hard enough that it crashed into an electrical box. Arcs of electricity went spiraling through the air.

Peter's eyes widened in horror, worry for Stark sending panic through his whole self. The suit was stuck in the box, and every time a bit of electricity appeared, the suit spasmed and twitched, making Peter's stomach twist over and over on itself.

Obie stared at the metal suit in what Peter assumed would be triumph if his face were uncovered, and he began walking towards the wreckage, intending to finish Tony Stark off once and for all.

Peter hit the glass, trying to break through to get out and help the billionaire, but the glass was thick, and his fists did nothing. When hitting the glass proved futile, the web-slinger shot a web at the ceiling, sticking it right in the crack where the ceiling and the window met. He tugged on the web to make sure it was securely stuck, intending to do what he'd done at the Washington Monument to break the glass, but before he could begin, there was a whirring noise from above. Peter glanced up at the hole that had been blasted in the ceiling, and his eyes widened in surprise and excitement. Obie had heard the noise as well, but before he could turn around, he was hit from behind, throwing his suit forward. The older man's suit seemed to be top heavy, so when the suit hit the floor, it did so with a ground-shaking _BOOM_.

Peter couldn't stop the grin that split his face as he saw another Iron Man suit descending, and he realized the first suit that had come down and had been facing Obadiah the entire time had been a distraction; it was empty, just like the time Stark's suit had saved Peter from the river when Vulture grabbed him.

"You really thought I didn't smell a trap coming?" Tony asked in an almost disappointed tone. "The suit's tracker says the kid's out in the middle of the ocean, but not moving? Something about that just screamed ' _trap'_ for some reason."

"Tony," Obadiah said with a tsk as his robotic arms pushed the suit into an upright position. "That was a dumb move, even for you."

Before Stark could make a move towards the older man, Stane hit a button on the arm of his suit. Peter jumped slightly as he heard a clanking noise coming from above, and he looked up. A quick jolt went through him when he realized that one of the two vents at the top of his cell had been shut. There was a sucking noise coming from the other one, and after a few moments, Peter started to feel like he wasn't getting a full breath of air.

Peter's chest began aching after a few more moments, and he put a hand over the symbol on his chest, drawing in deeper and deeper breaths, desperately trying to get in any air he could. Peter looked up at Stark with growing panic on his face as his breathing got faster and faster, though the speed of his breathing did nothing to help with the amount of oxygen flowing in and out of his lungs.

"Kid?" Stark asked, turning to face Peter. He saw the distressed high-schooler and realized what was happening, and he immediately turned back to Obadiah. "Give him air back," he ordered. Obadiah shrugged.

"No can do, Tony," he said. "Unless you promise to come out of your suit and play."

"Mr. Stark," Peter gasped, glaring at the Avenger. "Don't!"

Stark didn't pay any attention to Peter, probably mostly because he couldn't hear him, though Peter doubted Tony would have agreed to not cooperate even if he had been able to hear the high-schooler. Peter felt like screaming in frustration, but first of all, he couldn't get in a full breath of air to scream, and second, he knew that screaming was a precious waste of what little oxygen he had left.

Tony flipped his face plate up, switching his gaze between Obadiah and Peter. Peter tried shaking his head again, trying to convince Tony not to give himself up, but that small motion caused him to collapse to his knees, vision swimming in front of him. Black spots were dancing at the edge of his vision, but Peter pushed them away. He couldn't pass out now, not when Stark seemed like he might give himself up. He had to make sure the billionaire didn't do something stupid.

"Obadiah, stop!" Tony insisted, touching down on the floor. "Just give the kid some air."

Obie stared at the young man on his knees, his face lacking all signs of sympathy. "I figure he's got about three minutes of air left in there, depending on how fast he keeps breathing," he observed cooly.

"Three minutes?" Tony clarified. "That's plenty of time."

"Plenty of time to what?"

Tony flipped his faceplate down. "Plenty of time to kick your-"

The rest of Tony's threat was cut off as he fired his thrusters, hitting Obie's mask with a full blast of energy. Stane staggered backwards as he felt the full effect of Tony's attack, but he soon followed with his own offensive charge.

As the two of them battled, Tony had flashbacks of the last time the two of them had fought. Stane's suit seemed to be basically the same as it had been when he'd first stolen Stark's idea, which gave the billionaire an advantage. He knew the suit's weakness, and he quickly tried to exploit it. In the arm of his suit, there was a small vial of liquid nitrogen, and Stark quickly began spraying the material all over Stane's lower body. The material froze when it touched the metal, causing Obie's suit to come to a creaking halt.

Stark fired his thrusters at the legs of the suit, and Stane faltered slightly. Unfortunately, the blast from the repulsor beams broke the ice, and soon Obie was able to move again, though the legs of the metal suit had been damaged, and Stane wasn't able to move as fast. Almost immediately after the ice had been broken, Stane began firing projectiles at Stark, making the smaller-suited man have to dodge out of the way. One of the small missiles aimed at Stark struck the wall and disappeared into the ship, and a few seconds later there was a rumble and a boom as Stark assumed the projectile exploded.

Stark ejected several rounds of ammo at Stane himself, but before his attack could continue, Friday suddenly broke in. Apparently whatever had been causing her to malfunction had been disrupted, and she was back online. "Sir, Mr. Parker has a little less than a minute and a half before his oxygen levels reach critical."

Stark looked over at the kid, noticing that almost all the color had drained from Peter's face, though he was trying to break the glass by swinging at it on a web. The genius quickly did the calculations in his head, and he made a split-second decision. Though it might have seemed like a cowardly move to Obadiah, Stark turned tail and crashed through the door leading to the rest of the ship and flew down the hallway. Iron Man heard Obie yelling, but time was not on Tony's side, and he knew he couldn't stop to have a witty banter battle if he wanted to save Peter.

Stark flew through the boat. He knew Obadiah wasn't physically strong enough to be powering his suit on his own, especially not without an arc reactor, which he noticed the bigger suit was conveniently missing. Because of that, Stark knew he had to find whatever was powering and supporting the suit and shut it down.

"Friday, got anything that could help us shut down his suit?" Stark asked.

"I'm sensing a large server nearby, putting out enough power to to maintain the suit's full capacity for at least another-"

"I don't care how long the suit has, just tell me where it is!" Stark ordered.

"Take your next left, then right, and it's the third door on the right," Friday's smooth voice responded. Stark blazed down the hallway at breakneck speed, knowing he had to find the suit's power quickly before-

"Mr. Parker's oxygen levels have completely run out," Friday said, interrupting Tony's train of thought. Stark's mouth tightened into a thin line, but he didn't say anything. He just followed his AI's instructions to the server room, bursting through the door when he finally reached it.

As he observed the room, Stark saw electronic equipment covering every square inch inside, and he wasted no time in completely obliterating anything and everything that even looked like it could be putting off a signal. Once he was sure all the electronic equipment was destroyed, he turned and flew back through the ship the way he came, knowing he needed to get back to Obadiah and Peter. As he flew through the hallway, he heard a large crash and could feel the boat shake with the force of whatever had fallen.

A few seconds later, Stark re-entered the room he'd left Spider-Man and Iron Monger in, and he noticed that Obadiah's suit had collapsed on the floor. Tony was glad to see that his plan to destroy the support system had worked. The helmet had popped off the suit, exposing Obadiah floundering around helplessly as he tried to get out of his metal armor. Tony took several stomping steps over to the older man, aiming his thrusters at his once-upon-a-time mentor and friend.

"Stay down," he ordered. Obadiah spat at the man's feet, but Tony didn't react to the disrespectful sign. He'd happened to glance over at the glass container Peter was being held in, and his heart almost stopped when he saw the kid on the ground in a crumpled heap of red-and-blue suit, not moving.

 ** _Dun dun duuuuun..._**

 ** _Lemme know what you think!_**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Haha I guess I should have warned you guys that I can be really really mean in my cliffhangers...I'm sorry! *Wide, toothy grin* But I'm glad you're all enjoying the story so much! :D_**

 ** _Eeeehhhh...I'm not sure how I feel about some of this chapter... let me know what you guys think?_**

 _While Tony was Fighting Obadiah_

Peter watched as Tony and Obadiah fought. Stark was flying through the air, but Obie's suit was too large to get off the ground in the small, confined space of the boat, which gave Tony's suit a slight advantage.

Thanks to the depleting oxygen, Peter's head was starting to pound and ache like the drumline in his old marching band was playing a John Philip Sousa song in his head, but he paid it little mind as he tried to think of ways he could get out to help Mr. Stark.

Once again, he stuck a web at the top of the glass as he prepared to jump against the thick material, and visions of what happened at the Washington monument began playing through his memory.

" _At least this time I don't have the cops yelling at me and threatening to shoot,"_ he thought to himself. " _The only thing I have to worry about is how much air I have left. No problem..."_

He began swinging on the web like a spandex-clad George of the Jungle, slamming his feet into the glass. Each time he hit, a jarring shock went up his legs and shook his entire body; it didn't matter though, because after a few hits, he saw several thin cracks sneak their way from underneath his boot up the glass a short distance.

His heart leapt in his chest, but in his excitement about his small success he made the mistake of drawing in a deep breath of air. Or at least, he tried to. When the oxygen didn't come, his body rebelled, and his hands instinctively let go of the web as he fell to the ground. His hands grasped at his chest as he desperately fought his way to a kneeling position, but no matter how hard he fought against it, he could tell that he was losing the battle for consciousness, and quickly.

Black spots began dancing in front of his vision as he knelt on the ground. As his sight started blurring, he thought he saw Iron Man smash through the door leading to the rest of the boat and take off. Obadiah began yelling at the retreating figure, but all the noises were fuzzy in Peter's ears, and he couldn't make out what was being yelled.

The high schooler tried to fight his way to his feet, but he barely put any weight on one foot before he felt his leg give out and he collapsed face-first on the floor. Gritting his teeth and knowing if he couldn't get up, he would lose the battle to stay awake, Peter tried pushing himself up once more, but his arms shook so badly that they soon gave out as well.

Instinctively, he curled in on himself, forming the fetal position. He tried drawing in one more breath of whatever oxygen was left in the room, but there was nothing left for him to take in; the blackness on the edge of his vision took over, and he immediately sank into blissful unawareness.

 _0-0-0_

"Stay down," Tony repeated, blasting near Obie's head to let him know he was serious. Without another thought for the bald man, Stark turned towards the glass. Thanks to Friday, he could see some highlighted hairline fractures in the glass container Peter was in, and he flew towards the container with his fists outstretched, aiming for the small cracks.

The glass shattered as Iron Man made contact with it, his full suit weight combined with the weakened part in the glass making it much easier than it would have been if Tony had tried to break it any other way.

As the glass continued to fall around the two of them, Tony touched down on the ground and opened his suit, stepping out and walking briskly over to the young man on the ground. He felt a little twinge of guilt as he saw small cuts on Peter's face from the glass shattering, but he was more concerned with the blue tint in the kid's face and lips, along with his lack of breathing.

"Kid?" Stark asked, getting down on one knee. He turned Peter's head slightly and patted his cheeks, trying to elicit any sort of response from the young man. "Hey kid, c'mon. No sleeping on the job."

There was still no response from the high schooler, and if anyone had been around to see witness the events that were unfolding, they would have seen that Tony's demeanor was starting to crack. "Spider-Man," he said sharply, slapping Peter's cheeks a little harder than before. Still, there was no response, though some of the cuts on the kid's cheeks did start to bleed a little more. "Peter!"

Suddenly, Peter's chest heaved as he drew in a deep breath, and after a few gulping gasps of air, the kid's brown eyes opened. Tony felt a sense of relief flow through him, though he kept his face neutral and free of emotion.

He clapped a hand on Peter's shoulder as the young man looked around in slight confusion. "'Bout time you woke up," Stark said. "I've been out here doin' all the hard work to take down the bad guy, and you're in here takin' a nap."

"Sorry, Mr. Stark," Peter said with a slightly pained-sounding chuckle. "Lemme at the bad guys; they won't know what hit 'em."

"Uh, first, pretty sure they'd know what hit them," Stark said with a shrug, placing his hand on the young man's back to give him support as Peter struggled to sit up. "You're not exactly functioning at your highest capacity at the moment. Second, I got the bad guy. See?" Tony pointed out, jerking his thumb towards Stane. Peter caught Stark's usage of the singular bad guy, and he mentally smacked himself.

"Mr. Stark, there was another guy here," Peter informed the billionaire as he suddenly realized Stark wasn't aware of the second man.

"What?"

Peter was about to reply, but he'd finally managed to sit up all the way and began looking around. He saw something behind the billionaire, and dread took hold of him. "Mr. Stark, look out!" he exclaimed as he tried to lunge forward to stop what was about to happen. He fell to the floor though, thanks to his recent lack of oxygen, and the young man's call came too late; Stark had barely started to turn when a sharp pain entered his side.

Tony grunted, and when the billionaire looked down, he saw a knife handle protruding from just under his rib cage. Coughing and staggering back slightly, Stark's face immediately began to drain of color. The suit Stark had been wearing turned on its own, backhanding the burned man responsible for stabbing Stark. Obadiah had finally managed to crawl out of his suit and made his way over to the two superheroes, unbeknownst to them.

Peter leapt to his feet from where he'd fallen on the floor, fighting through the dizziness and nausea that the motion caused. He made his way to Stark slowly, teetering precariously as he still tried to get his balance back. As he reached the billionaire, Peter saw the older man reach down for the handle of the knife, and he knew what was coming.

"Mr. Stark, wait, I wouldn't-" Peter tried cautioning, but he was cut off as Tony grabbed the knife handle and pulled, removing the weapon from his body. Blood began seeping from the wound immediately, and as they both watched, more and more of the red liquid began coming out of the wound at a faster pace every second.

"Crap," Peter muttered, jumping into action. He grabbed for Stark as the billionaire started to stumble sideways, and Peter led him over to the bench in the cell, pushing on Stark's shoulders to get him to sit down. The high schooler sat next to his mentor, and without a moment of thought, he grabbed the shirt where the knife had entered and tore the shirt the rest of the way, revealing the stab wound. Tony's breathing was getting more and more ragged; Peter wasn't really able to tell much about the wound, though it did look deep. He wished he could know if it had hit anything vital, but he knew that for the moment, he'd have to settle with just getting the bleeding stopped. Thankfully Obadiah had only taken Peter's mask, and had left his web shooters in place, so Spider-Man fired a web on either side of the stab wound, pulling in the opposite direction to get the wound closed a little bit. After sticking the webs together on the other side of Tony's torso, Peter, for extra measure, began webbing over the top of the wound to give it another extra layer of protection.

Even with the bleeding momentarily stopped, Tony's face was still rapidly losing color, and Peter could feel the billionaire shaking slightly as he tried to get up from the bench Peter'd had him sit on. Peter knew trying to stop Stark would be a futile idea, even in the man's weakened condition, so he figured he would help contain the situation as best he could. The high schooler grabbed ahold of the billionaire's arm to support him as the older man struggled and finally pushed himself off the bench.

Obie had fallen to the floor from the force of the hit from Stark's suit, but before either Peter or the suit could do anything to restrain the man, he grabbed something small from his pocket.

"See ya on the other side, Tony," Obadiah seethed, hitting a button on what Peter realized was a remote that he pulled from his pocket. Peter was slightly confused when Obadiah just sort of flopped onto his back after he pushed the button, but the high schooler ignored the burned man when he felt something shaking; at first he thought it was just Stark, still in shock from the blood loss and stab wound, but he quickly realized that it was coming from deep below the ship, from the belly of the vessel. The second rumble was forceful enough that it caused both Stark and Peter to stumble, but once Tony started slipping down, the Iron Man suit appeared at their sides.

"Let go," Stark instructed; he sounded out of breath, but his voice was stronger than Peter had been expecting. The high schooler hesitated for a split second after Tony gave the command, but he trusted Stark. He let go of the billionaire and the Iron Man suit engulfed the older man, eyes lighting up as the last bit of the suit closed around its maker.

"Come on," Tony said. The suit began rising in the air, but Peter paused.

"What about him?" he asked as he quickly grabbed his mask from the ground where Obadiah had dropped it earlier, slipping it on, gesturing at Obie afterwards. The high schooler took a few cautious steps towards the fallen man, even though he could hear Stark behind him telling him to come back. Once he got a few paces away though, the burned man suddenly reached out and grabbed Peter's ankle, yanking on it and sending the kid tumbling to the floor with a yelp. Peter's head collided heavily with the floor, making him see stars for several moments.

Taking advantage of Peter's momentary weakness, Obadiah raised his fist and slammed it into the high schooler's gut, and Peter let out a pained groan. Before he could strike again though, Obadiah was blasted backwards by one of Stark's repulsors. When the burned man finally came to a halt after skidding along the floor, he found he had landed right by the knife that Stark had removed from his side. Peter's eyes widened under his mask as he saw the older man raise the knife, but it wasn't to throw it at Peter or Stark.

"NO!" Peter shouted, trying to lunge forward before Obadiah could do whatever he was going to do to himself. Before he could reach the man though, another large _BOOM_ echoed around the ship, throwing the high schooler off balance. As he started to topple over, Peter felt strong hands grip his upper arms, and suddenly he was in the air as the Iron Man suit took off.

Feeling as if he weighed nothing, Peter watched and felt as the suit flew towards the exit, doing its best to avoid any debris it could, though every now and then, Peter's feet dragged along the floor as the suit had to fly lower to the ground to avoid bits of the ceiling that were hanging down.

Peter felt and heard the large booms coming faster and closer together as the ship really began to explode. A slight crick entered his neck as he craned his head around, trying to look backwards. When he finally was able to see what was behind them, his eyes widened. The entire ship behind them was completely engulfed in flames, and it was spreading quickly through the hallway, gaining on the two fleeing heroes. Peter knew that they would soon be overtaken by the flames, and he began to feel slightly panicky, but Stark seemed to notice the flames catching up to them as well.

"This is gonna suck," Tony griped. "Watch your head, kid," he added. Peter wasn't sure what the man meant, but he soon found out as the angle Stark was flying at shifted slightly, aiming them upwards.

One of Peter's arms was released as Tony lifted his own metal arm, firing a blast at the ceiling above them. Peter yelped, covering his head with his free arm as the two of them crashed through the hole Tony put in the boat.

A piece of debris collided with Peter's head, and the high schooler momentarily blacked out. When he came to a little less than ten seconds later, he hissed in pain as his head berated him for being so careless, but the pain was soon forgotten as the suit began soaring into the sky, climbing higher and higher with Peter in tow.

Suddenly, the boat below them exploded, and they were close enough that the force of the blast sent them careening through the air. Peter felt a few muscles in his back and legs protest as they were stretched in directions they weren't used to stretching, but the pain was only momentary, and the suit quickly righted itself. Both Stark and Peter watched the burning boat below them, and Peter couldn't help but think about the Staten Island Ferry.

"Friday?" Stark asked, panting for breath. His voice sounded labored, and slightly weaker than it had last time Peter had heard the man speak, and the high schooler knew Stark had to get looked at soon.

"There are no remaining life forms on the boat," the AI replied in her smooth Scottish accent. Peter wished he could see Tony's expression, but the faceplate remained down, and Peter could only guess at the thoughts going on in the billionaire's head. As for the high schooler himself, a feeling of guilt overtook him as the realization hit him that they hadn't been able to save Obadiah Stane. Even though he knew the man was a terrible person, he still felt bad; he felt like he should have done something more to try and save the man, even though it was clear he didn't want to be saved.

"Go to autopilot," Stark finally instructed. "Take us to the base."

"Wait," Peter said as the suit began flying through the air again. Thoughts of Obadiah had been replaced by thoughts of someone much closer to him, someone whose curfew he had missed, someone who was definitely worried sick about him. Peter had been kidnapped while it was still nighttime, meaning she was more than likely up and awake, trying to figure out where her nephew was; she'd probably been awake all night, now that Peter thought about it. "What about May?"

As if she heard her nephew speak her name, Karen suddenly announced, "Incoming call from: May Parker."

Peter accepted the phone call immediately. "May!" he greeted, knowing he was in for the worst chewing out of his life, even more so than when May had found out he was Spider-Man.

"Peter Benjamin Parker, you are in so much trouble right now! Do you know how long I've been trying to get ahold of you? Hours, young man! Hours! You missed curfew, you aren't answering your phone, and you didn't tell me where you were going! You know what's coming next, mister! I'm-"

"Friday, conference me in," Peter heard Stark mutter. A few seconds later, Tony was a part of the phone call between May and her nephew. "Hi May," Tony interrupted. Peter was slightly shocked to hear how tired the man sounded after only a few minutes since the last time he'd spoken. "Listen, it's kinda my fault the kid missed curfew. Don't take it out on him."

"Tony Stark, you cannot just swoop in and take Peter whenever you feel like it! He's just a boy, and if you think I'm going to just let you waltz into his life with your fancy gadgets and take him away from completing school, you've got another thing coming! You-"

"I think you may wanna give the kid a day or so off school," Tony interrupted again. The billionaire could almost hear May having an aneurysm, and he cut her off before she could begin ranting again. "Listen, I've sent a message to my people, and someone should be at your place in ten minutes or less. I need you to go with him when he gets there," Stark instructed. "He'll bring you where you need to go, and I promise, we'll explain everything when you get there."

"Stark, what did you do? Peter, are you alright?" May asked, the anger in her voice mostly replaced with worry and concern all of a sudden.

"I'm fine, May," Peter tried convincing her. "Like Mr. Stark said, I promise, I'm gonna tell you everything when you meet up with us," he assured her.

"Peter, you're scaring me," May replied, her voice verging on a hysteric tone. Another stab of guilt went through Peter as he heard the desperation in his aunt's voice. Her voice was shaking and trembling; he could tell she'd been crying, and he felt awful.

"It'll be fine, May," Peter said. "Listen, I gotta go, but I promise. Everything is okay now," he said.

"Peter," May said, sounding like she was on the verge of tears again. "I'm worried about you."

"I'm going to be fine," he assured his aunt, even as his head twinged with pain from the battering it had gotten from the debris from the ship. "I love you," he said gently.

"I love you too," May replied with a sniff. "You'd better tell me everything, and I mean _everything_ this time," she added. "I don't know if I can handle this anymore," she added. Peter's stomach plummeted at those words; he knew exactly what she meant by them, and it terrified him. "I'll see you when I get to wherever it is I'm going," she added. A doorbell rang in the background. "It sounds like Stark's man is here."

"Wow, that was fast," Tony muttered. With every passing moment, Peter knew Stark was getting weaker and weaker, and he knew they had to land and get help soon.

"May, I love you, but Mr. Stark needs help," Peter said. "I love you," he repeated again. "I'll see you in a little bit."

"We are going to talk about this, Peter," his aunt warned before the call was cut off.

"I know," Peter said softly.

"Good. I'll see you in a little bit." With that, the call was ended.

"It'll be fine, kid," Stark said. He could practically feel the kid's worry emanating from him, and it was honestly stressing Tony out slightly, which he didn't need at the moment, even though he'd never admit it.

"I know," came Peter's soft reply. The two of them had finally left the airspace over the ocean and were now flying above paved roads and honking cars. As the young man watched the cars drive by below them, he lost himself in his thoughts.

He completely lost track of time as they were flying, and he jumped slightly when he realized they were descending. The building they were approaching wasn't one that Peter recognized though. It wasn't the Avengers HQ; it looked more like a private hospital, which actually made sense. Peter's hunch was confirmed a second later when a door to the roof was thrown open and men and women in white coats streamed out, surrounding the two of them as they touched down, with questions flying around them a million miles a minute.

"What happened?"

"What sort of wounds are we dealing with?"

"How long ago did this happen?"

Stark's suit opened up and the billionaire took a shaky step out. The doctors immediately gathered around him, even though he tried waving them off.

"Friday, I meant take us to HQ," he griped wearily.

"I'm under orders from a higher authority that if you were ever to get injured, you be taken here, even if it were against your wishes," Friday replied.

"Higher autho-what higher authority?" Stark asked incredulously.

"Mine," another feminine voice chimed in. Peter looked around and saw a red-headed woman he recognized as Pepper Potts walk out onto the roof as well. Tony rolled his eyes, but he didn't argue with his girlfriend.

"I'm fine, I can walk," he insisted as one of the doctors tried to get him to sit on a gurney. His words were soon disproved though as his knees buckled under him. The doctors took that as their cue, and they rushed him inside.

A few doctors were hovering around Peter as he walked inside as well, though the majority of people seemed to be more concerned with Stark and his stab wound.

The two injured heroes were led into different hospital rooms down the hall from each other. Peter walked into the room that he was directed to, and one of the doctors followed him inside, shutting the door behind them.

The doctor held out his hands to Peter, hospital clothes being offered. There were some loose pants as well as a t-shirt made from the same material, and though Peter hesitated, he realized he must really smell, and figured it wouldn't be such a bad idea to get out of his suit at least, even if he couldn't take a shower yet. He accepted the clothes and walked towards the bathroom in the hospital room, trying not to let show how dizzy he was. He finally shut the door and closed his eyes, keeping the lights off to avoid making his head hurt worse than it already did. When he finally felt like he could move without the world tilting over on him, he off stripped his suit and used some wet paper towels to wash his face and neck, making him feel a little more alert and alive before he slowly climbed into the hospital clothes.

His eyes had adjusted decently well to the dark, and he took a look at himself in the mirror as best he could; he winced as he saw the cuts along his face from the debris off the exploding ship, as well as probably the glass that had shattered when Stark broke through the wall of the container Peter had been kept in. The paper towels Peter had used were spotted with dried blood he realized. There was also a bruise forming under one of his eyes, but he had no idea how he'd gotten that injury. He gently touched the back of his head, wincing as he felt the large knot from when Stane had slammed him into the wall, and from the hit his head had also taken when he and Stark had been exiting the exploding ship.

He finally sighed, balling his suit up and holding it close to his chest as he exited the bathroom. The doctor was waiting for Peter, and as the young man exited, the older gentleman instructed him to sit on the bed. Once Peter was situated, the doctor pulled out a penlight and began shining it in Peter's eyes.

"My name is Doctor Folsome," he introduced. "Can you tell me what happened, Mister...uh?" the doctor asked, looking expectantly at his patient.

"Parker," Peter replied automatically. He winced almost immediately as he realized he'd just given away his name to a complete stranger who knew his superhero identity as well. He didn't have a lot of time to worry about that or start explaining though, because Peter suddenly felt his stomach roll, and he practically felt the color drain from his face. Dr. Folsome seemed to recognize the symptoms and warning signs thanks to years of practice, and he deftly grabbed a trash can and placed it under Peter's chin mere seconds before the young man's lunch and dinner made a reappearance.

The high schooler retched for several moments, and when nothing was left to come up, he dry heaved for another minute or so. When he was finally finished heaving, the doctor calmly reached over and traded Peter the trash can for a towel to wipe his mouth on, which Peter accepted gratefully. A glass of water was also given to the young man, and after Peter finished wiping his mouth and chin on the towel, he took small sips of the water, not wanting to upset his stomach anymore.

"So uh, you've got the whole patient-doctor secret stuff, right?" Peter asked as he took another sip of water, not exactly comfortable with the fact that this random doctor now knew both of his identities.

"Don't worry," the doctor assured him. "We're the team that treats the Avengers; we know how to keep identities a secret."

Peter was still a little hesitant to trust the man, but he figured if not only Mr. Stark trusted the man and his team, but Pepper also trusted them, he figured he could give them a bit of his trust as well. As the doctor was checking Peter over, he once again asked the young man to explain what happened, which the web-slinger did, this time thankfully without the reappearance of any old, half-digested food. Dr. Folsome made a few notes on his clipboard while Peter explained how he had his oxygen cut off and how Tony had been stabbed, and after scribbling on his board for a minute, the doctor looked up.

"Thank you, Mr. Parker. I need to go see Mr. Stark now, but I'll be back in a few minutes," he promised. "Please stay on the bed. There's a button there to call a nurse if you need anything," he added, nodding his head at a button by the side of the bed. Peter nodded in understanding and agreement, and the doctor gave the teenager a comforting smile before he walked out the door, shutting it behind him.

The bed Peter was sitting on was cold; while the hospital clothes were nice, clean, and not smelly, they weren't made from the thickest material, and he could feel the cold temperature seeping through the thin material. Peter shivered, rubbing his arms as he felt goosebumps rise on his skin, and he wondered how long he would have to sit there in the room. While he waited, thoughts of what had gone on during the last twelve hours played through his head, and he once again felt a wave of guilt wash over him as he thought about not being able to save Obadiah, as well as the stress he had put May through. Thankfully though, Peter wasn't alone with his thoughts for long before the doctor came back into the room.

"Mr. Stark would like to see you," he informed Peter, causing the teenager's heart to beat faster.

"Is he okay?"

"He's fine. The knife wound was deep, but thankfully it missed anything vital. He did need stitches, which are just being finished up now, but thanks to your webbing, he didn't lose as much blood as he should have with how deep the wound was, so he didn't even need a blood transfusion; you saved his life."

Peter felt relief at the doctor's words. Mr. Stark was going to be okay, and Peter had actually done something to help with that, though he did feel slightly guilty because Stark had only gotten stabbed because he came to help Peter.

"Do you feel up to walking, or should I get a wheelchair?" Doctor Folsome asked, pulling Peter out of his thoughts once more.

"Oh no, I can walk," Peter assured the doctor, hopping off the table to prove his point. As soon as his feet touched the floor though, he began to wobble, and Folsome held out his hands to catch the kid if he fell.

"You sure about that?" he asked in a light tone as he peered at the teenager over his glasses.

"Yeah, yeah," Peter said a bit breathlessly. "I'll be good." He took a few experimental steps, glad to find that once he actually got going, he wasn't nearly as dizzy as he had been when he first stood up.

The doctor led him out the door and down the hallway to the private wing of the private hospital, where they treated guests like Stark. It was a fairly secluded section of the hospital, though Peter realized it wasn't as far away from his room as he'd originally thought. When they reached Stark's room, Folsome opened the door and showed Peter in. The sight that greeted Peter made him feel anxious; Stark was lying on a hospital bed, his shirt off and his side covered in bandages that were now thankfully covering the stab wound that had been stitched up. An IV was snaking its way from Stark's elbow to a bag hanging on a pole, and standing next to the bed speaking with a nurse was Pepper. Everyone turned around and watched as Peter was led inside, and the teenager suddenly felt self-conscious as all eyes fell on him.

"Hey, kid," Stark said as he saw the teenager walk in. He tried to push himself up, wincing as it tugged at his wound. Peter held up his hands, intending to tell Mr. Stark that he didn't need to move on his account, but someone else beat him to it.

"Tony," Pepper replied with a warning tone. "You need to rest."

"I'm completely fine to talk to the kid," Stark argued. "The doctors said it missed anything vital, they just needed to stitch it up. Something I _could_ have done at base," he added, sounding slightly grumpy as he looked at his girlfriend, who looked unrepentant. She rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Peter.

"How're you feeling?" she asked sympathetically, ignoring the billionaire on the bed next to her as she turned the the young man. She noticed his the teen's pale face, and she looked at him inquiringly.

"Fine," Peter lied. "Yeah, I'm-I'm good."

"Liar," Stark shot down, fixing the kid with a pointed stare. "He's gonna be okay, yeah?" Stark asked, switching his gaze from the high schooler to Dr. Folsome. The doctor took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he explained what was happening with Peter.

"He has a moderate-to-severe concussion, and his blood pressure and heart rate are not quite in the normal range, but that's to be expected with the oxygen deprivation. I'm actually quite surprised his levels are where they are; usually people are a lot worse off for the amount of time that he went without oxygen. I would like to keep him for observation though," he added. "Just to make sure that everything will be alright."

"I'm fine," Peter insisted, knowing May would more than likely flip out more than she already was if she found out he had to stay in the hospital for an extended period of time. "Mr. Stark is the one that needs to be taken care of," Peter said.

"Kid, don't fight me on this!" Stark said, sounding slightly snappy. "You didn't have air for like, three minutes. And don't think I didn't hear when you got hit by the debris escaping the ship. I'm not gonna face the wrath of your aunt if you don't pass your next math quiz because your brain cell count is depleted," he insisted.

"Oh, you're going to face it anyway," a familiar voice came from the doorway. Everyone turned and saw May standing under the doorframe looking absolutely livid. "What were you thinking, Stark?" she asked, clearly enraged as she stalked into the room.

"What was I….thinking?" Stark asked, clearly startled to see Peter's aunt so soon.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't make assumptions. You weren't thinking, were you?" she accused.

"May!" Peter said, trying to stop his aunt's tirade on Stark.

"On the drive here, your man said something along the lines of whatever happened to Peter being completely your fault?" she explained accusingly, clearly wanting to hear Stark's side of the story. Stark opened his mouth to reply, but Peter turned to his aunt and spoke before the billionaire could defend himself.

"May, listen! It wasn't Mr. Stark's fault. He had nothing to do with it. I was out on the streets and I got grabbed. If it wasn't for Mr. Stark, I probably wouldn't-" Peter faltered in his defense of his mentor as he saw a man step in behind May and shut the door behind them.

"Who are you?" asked Stark, who had also seen the man come in. May turned her head and looked at the man who'd followed her inside.

"This was your guy that picked me up," she replied in a tone that suggested she wasn't impressed with Stark's recognition of his own people.

"No, it's not," Stark replied. "Where's Cornelius?"

"Mr. Stark," Peter said, his eyes still wide as he stared at the newcomer. "That's the other guy from the ship, the one I told you about, who was with Mr. Stane!"

Pepper visibly started when she heard the name Stane, but she was unable to give any reaction other than that because as soon as Peter identified the man, he brought his hand out from behind his back, bringing out a large gun and levelling it at the occupants in the room. Before anyone could react, the man's finger pulled the trigger, but when the shot was fired, it wasn't a bullet that exited the chamber; it was a large bolt of electricity, and it was headed straight for one of the occupants in the room.

 _ **Heh heh heh...*hides behind bullet proof glass* At least this cliffhanger wasn't as bad as last chapter, right?!**_

 _ **So like I said, I'm not sure how I feel about some of this chapter. Peter's phone conversation with May, the Dr. Folsome, etc.**_

 _ **I was going to bring up the accords, but I honestly am not sure what's happening with it, since it wasn't really ever brought up in Homecoming except for when Peter was in history class and Ned was asking him questions, you could hear the teacher droning on about the accords, but no one ever actually talked to Spider-Man about signing them, so I figured I'd just leave it out of this story for the time being...**_

 _ **Anyway, what did you guys think? In character? Not? Too long? Too short? Let me know!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Okay! So this is technically the last chapter, and then there'll be a short epilogue posted either tomorrow or the day after, depending on where I'm at in my unpacking, but for now: Enjoy!**_

 _ **I own none of the Marvel characters :(**_

The electricity soared through the air, and Dr. Folsome cried out as he fell to the ground, clutching at his shoulder. The appendage was smoking slightly, though Peter couldn't tell if it was from the clothes or if Folsome's skin was actually smoking. The two other doctors in the room immediately moved towards their fallen comrade. In the midst of the chaos and confusion going on in the hospital room, the gunman whirled around and locked the door behind him before he turned back around, aiming his large gun at each person in the room in turn, the crazed and desperate look in his eyes letting everyone know that he meant business and wouldn't be afraid to hurt someone else.

"Don't move," he warned, turning his gun to finally come to a complete rest on the other two doctors and the one nurse left in the room. He gestured with his gun, motioning towards the small bathroom. "Give me your cell phones and pagers and get inside," he ordered. Peter watched what was going on, getting more and more tense with every second that passed. His senses were going haywire, trying to alert him to the danger nearby.

 _Thanks for the heads up,_ he thought sarcastically at himself as he tried to calm down his extra-alert senses.

As the medical staff hurried to obey the gunman's orders, the man looked at the other four occupants in the room. Peter had pulled May close to him as soon as the man had aimed the gun the first time, holding her by the shoulders as they stared at the man with the gun. Pepper and Tony both had their hands on each other's arms protectively. Pepper's eyes had gone wide, though she didn't actually look scared. Her wide eyes were more of a shock reaction.

While the gunman was distracted and not paying close attention to the medical staff, one of the doctors hurriedly began typing something into his phone, but the gunman noticed the movement. He whirled back around, raising his gun at the offending doctor. "Hey!" he yelled, a dangerous look in his eye. Peter looked back and forth from the doctor to the gunman, his senses going haywire.

Time seemed to move in slow motion, and Peter knew what was coming before it happened. As the gunman's finger began to flex on the trigger, the high schooler let go of his aunt and flung himself at the doctor in the line of fire right as the electricity exited the gun. Peter collided with the doctor and knocked him out of the way, but he was unable to escape the blast of electricity himself. The shocking energy seemed to eagerly wrap itself around the high schooler, as if it were hungry for something Peter could providing.

His side and arm erupted in pain as the volts came into contact with his body, and he fell to the floor with a thud and a groan. It took him a minute to readjust and wrap his head around what had just happened, but he soon smelled something burning, and when he looked down, he realized the thin hospital clothes he'd been wearing now had massive holes burned into them.

Vaguely, through the haze his head was currently in, Peter heard someone yelling his name, and he soon realized it was his aunt. "Peter!" May yelled again when her first cries got no response from the teenager. The high-schooler had curled in on himself when he fell to the floor as he tried to ride out the pain, but his aunt's frantic cries finally made him look up. Pepper had grabbed May's arm and was holding her back, though Peter's aunt was fighting hard against the red-head. Even though his head was still feeling slightly fuzzy, Peter slowly pushed himself to his feet, shaking his head slightly as he tried to get rid of the cobwebs in his brain.

"Don't be a hero, kid," the man warned, powering up the gun to fire again. When the weapon was aimed though, it wasn't at the high schooler. It was at May, and when Peter saw that, he felt his blood boil. He grit his teeth in anger, and he continued to push himself up, though it was slower than before; he didn't want to spook the man. Finally, Peter straightened up, though his knees were wobbling slightly as they supported his full weight. The high schooler held his hands up in a peaceful gesture, showing that he was going to try anything stupid.

"Did...did you miss that part of my job description?" Peter asked, unable to hold back the sarcastic reply as he slowly put one foot in front of the other. "Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man… all super _heroes_ ," he said. The man with the gun sneered.

"I'm serious," the man warned again, trying to tell Peter that he wasn't afraid to shoot the high schooler's aunt with electricity if the web-slinger didn't behave himself. Peter recognized the deranged look in the man's eyes, and he slowed his approach, not wanting to risk May getting shot before he could get to her.

"Ezekiel?" Pepper asked suddenly, recognition of the man hitting her like a ton of bricks. Zeke's head whipped around to stare at her, though he kept his gaze flicking back and forth between the high-schooler and Stark's girlfriend, who was still holding May by the arms. "Zeke? Is that you?" Pepper asked again, sadness filling her voice. "What happened to you? What happened to the sweet innocent high school student I knew?"

"You know what happened," Zeke snarled. "You tried to murder my father!"

Pepper opened her mouth to reply, but her boyfriend beat her to the punch. "To be fair, he did go homicidal and tried to build an army of suits that would have meant certain death for thousands of people," Tony pointed out.

"Tony!" Pepper exclaimed in exasperation. Tony's eyebrows raised and he held up his hands in surrender, even though he didn't look very sorry for what he'd said. Ezekiel's eyes narrowed, but he turned his attention back to the medical staff, knowing he needed to take care of them before he could get revenge for his father.

"Get in there!" Zeke yelled at the doctors and nurse, motioning towards the bathroom again. The staff finally did as requested; their electronic equipment had been tossed on the floor when Peter had thrown himself in front of the doctor, and they finally hurried inside the bathroom. Zeke gestured at Peter with his gun. "Make sure it stays shut," he ordered.

Peter thought for a moment about making a grab for the gun in Ezekiel's hands, but when he realized just how sore he was, he thought better of it. The web-slinger gingerly moved and closed the door to the bathroom, keeping his arm close to his side. While that was being done, Zeke began speaking again.

"My father told me what he was going to do right before it happened," he said, emotion building up in his voice quickly. "His last words to me were that I needed to do whatever it took to make sure everyone paid the price for what was done to him. Do you know how that feels, to have your father tell you that he's going to die, and that he needs you to make sure the people responsible paid the price? Well, this is me fulfilling that promise," he said, his voice thick as he finished speaking. The gun wobbled slightly in the man's hands for a second, but he composed himself with a deep breath, and he gripped the gun in his hand more securely than ever.

"Zeke, don't do anything stupid," Tony cautioned, flexing his fingers in and out of a fist. It seemed like such a small gesture, but Peter was immediately curious as to what the billionaire was trying to do. Nothing Tony Stark did was ever pointless. Peter couldn't dwell on his question for long though, because it was at that moment that Zeke growled and switched the guns aim from Peter's aunt to point it at Peter himself.

"I am going to take away everything important to you; I'll start with the kid, and then I'll end with your lady, and I will make you watch every single agonizing second," Zeke growled, tears actually escaping the man's eyes and slipping down his cheeks. Peter's senses were screaming at him to move, to get out of the way of danger, and he began to flinch away to try and avoid being hit with more electricity. As he ducked to the side though, instead of hearing the zap of electricity, he heard a loud _THWAP_ followed by a _THUD_.

The high schooler looked over at the group by the bed, and he was surprised to see Ezekiel lying on the ground, clutching at his head. There was a hole in the wall by Tony's bed, and the billionaire's hand was covered in Iron Man armor; though Peter wasn't entirely sure where the suit had come from (or where the rest of it was, for that matter), he wasn't about to complain. He opened his mouth to thank Tony for saving him, but he suddenly realized the look on Stark's face was one of shock, not the smugness one would expect from someone who'd just taken down an armed assailant. Peter followed Stark's gaze to see where he was looking, and his jaw hit the ground in disbelief as he realized who was actually responsible for taking Ezekiel Stane down.

"May?" he asked when he saw his aunt holding Stark's IV pole in her hands like a baseball bat. She looked up at him, and Peter would have been terrified of the look on her face if he didn't know for a fact that his aunt would never hurt him.

"Go, Mama May!" Stark said, obviously impressed. Pepper looked at her boyfriend with another exasperated look. "What?" Stark defended. He rubbed his arm, where Peter suddenly noticed a small amount of blood coming out of a small hole in his elbow. "Though I wish you'd'a given me a bit of warning before you yanked the IV out of my arm," he added in a slightly whiny voice.

May gave him a look that clearly warned him not to push her buttons, and Stark wisely backed off. He'd learned from years of experience with Pepper not to push a woman's buttons when they were in their protective mode.

"Peter?" May asked, turning to her nephew with concern all over her face. She dropped the IV pole with a _clang_ , and she walked towards her nephew quickly, needing to make sure he was okay.

"I'm fine, May," Peter assured her, meeting her in the middle of the room and wrapping her in the biggest one-armed hug he could muster; his other arm was still fairly immobile thanks to the blast of electricity from Stane's gun. After a few moments of embracing each other, they broke apart, though May kept her hand on Peter's shoulder.

"Someone should probably let those doctors out," May said suddenly, glancing pointedly behind Peter towards the bathroom where the medical staff was still stuck. Peter jumped a little as he realized the doctors and nurse were still in there, and he moved to open the door. He moved too quickly though, and groaned as he grasped at his side where he'd been burned by the electricity.

All three adults began speaking at once, trying to see if the young man was okay. Tony even started to sit up again, but Pepper put a firm hand on his shoulder to keep him down.

"Take it easy, kid," Tony said, staring at the young man.

"I'm not the one with a knife wound in my side," Peter retorted, though he moved much slower the second time as he reached for the door he had shut on the doctors.

The medical staff spilled out of the small bathroom, and the two who were uninjured immediately converged on Peter and Tony while the nurse began checking over May and Pepper. Dr. Folsome walked out of the bathroom much slower than the others had, still clutching his own shoulder, but he seemed to put aside his own injuries as he strode forward to make sure his patients were alright.

There was a loud banging on the door leading to the hallway, and people began yelling from outside, asking what was going on as they tried wiggling the locked door handle. Pepper moved over and unlocked the door, allowing the security guards to come into the room as well. With the addition of the security guards, the room was suddenly feeling very cramped, even though it was one of the larger rooms in the hospital.

While the doctors took care of their patients, checking them over for injuries and re-inserting the IV into Tony's arm, the guards grabbed Zeke's arms and pulled them behind his back, lifting him off the ground. The young man struggled in their grasp, but when he realized he was going to be unable to get away, he simply tossed his head up, staring at Peter, May, Tony, and Pepper with hatred in his eyes.

"This isn't over," he assured them with a hiss as he was dragged out the door and down the hallway. "Stark! You haven't seen the last of me!" he raged, struggling against the men holding him again. His yells got quieter and quieter as he was taken further and further away, until finally there was silence outside.

"Oh goody," Stark mumbled, rolling his eyes. "More cliche bad guy threats. As if this day couldn't get any worse."

"Stop that," Pepper chided, lightly smacking his shoulder. "You're gonna make something else happen!"

Stark shrugged nonchalantly, and Pepper rolled her eyes.

"Is someone gonna bother telling me what just happened?" May asked incredulously as the rest of the people in the room continued to examine and be examined. Pepper gently placed her hand on May's arm again, though this time it was a comforting gesture, and not an attempt to hold her back.

"Why don't we take a walk?" the redhead offered. "I'll explain everything, I promise."

May looked back and forth between Pepper and her nephew, obviously torn between wanting to know what was going on and feeling the need to stay close to Peter.

"I'm fine, May," Peter assured her. "I'll sit right here until you get back," he promised when she still hesitated, taking a seat on one of the plastic chairs in the room. He folded his hands neatly in his lap and gave the woman who raised him an innocent face, raising his eyebrows and making his eyes as big and doe-eyed as they would get. May's eyes narrowed slightly at him in suspicion, trying to figure out if her nephew was trying to get away with something, but she didn't protest when Pepper gently tugged on her arm again and led her out the door.

Stark and Peter could hear Pepper's voice as the two women moved down the hallway, getting quieter the further they got from the room. Peter felt Stark's gaze turn on him, and he kept his eyes looking straight ahead, head bowed slightly to avoid the billionaire's gaze. His hands began twitching and fidgeting in his lap as the silence between the two of them stretched longer and longer. The doctors were still bustling around them, but after a few seconds, Tony spoke up.

"Guys, we're fine for now. Go grab a coffee, or a donut, or whatever it is doctors eat on their breaks," he said. "Dr. Folsome, you should probably go get your own arm looked at."

Folsome, who was busy adjusting some of the dials on Stark's IV machine answered for everyone before the other doctors or nurse could reply.

"I'm fine, and for now, we don't need anything, Mr. Stark," he said. "What we do need is to make sure your stitches are still in place, and I want to check out Mr. Parker's vitals. That looks like a couple of nasty burns," he added, speaking directly to Peter at that point as he glanced down at the high schooler's arm and side that had been hit by the electricity.

"Oh, uh…" Peter stuttered as he looked down at his injuries as well. "I mean, I heal fast," he tried convincing the doctor.

"Just take a quick break," Tony ordered again.

"Mr. Stark," the doctor said in a warning tone. "I will 'take a break' when I am sure that you and this young man are fit to be left alone," he stated firmly. Tony huffed, but the doctor held his gaze and stood firm, and finally Tony rolled his eyes. Nothing was said, but Peter could see the small triumphant gleam in Folsome's eyes as he continued his examinations.

Peter hissed softly when Folsome moved from fiddling with Tony's IV to examining the teenager, lifting his arm to examine the burn. "Nurse," Folsome said, motioning at the nurse to come over. "Would you please get another set of clothes for Mr. Parker here?" he requested. Peter glanced down, not having really realized that he definitely needed a change of clothes. The nurse nodded, turning on her heel and leaving the hospital room to get the requested articles of clothing.

"Kid," Stark said, grabbing Peter's attention. The high schooler briefly glanced over at Tony, not sure what the billionaire was going to say to him. "I just wanted to say that I, uh...Y'know, could we please just have two minutes alone?" Stark suddenly requested of the doctors again, exasperation apparent in his voice. "Please?"

The doctors all looked at each other, and finally Folsome sighed in defeat, rubbing his forehead. "Two minutes," he finally conceded. "Then we're coming back, and we're not leaving again until we think you're fit to be left alone, or you're released," he threatened. The nurse had just walked back into the room with a new set of clothes for Peter, but the doctor stopped her. "Just put them on the edge of Mr. Stark's bed," he instructed. She looked confused, but she did as requested before she was ushered out of the room along with the rest of the medical staff.

Peter watched them leave, unsure of how to feel. He knew Stark wasn't going to do anything to him, but he was more scared of the older man's disappointment in him than he was in any sort of physical punishment.

"I'm sorry."

Peter's eyes shot up, and he glanced at the man in the bed, his forehead wrinkling as he stared at the older man. That definitely hadn't been what he'd been expecting. "Wait, what?" he asked, shaking his head as if trying to clear out his ears.

"I'm sorry," Stark repeated. "It's my fault Obie came after you. You...you being in danger, that's on me."

"Mr. Stark, it wasn't your fault," Peter tried, but Tony waved his hand, cutting the young man off.

"Just...hold on," he said. Peter shut his mouth and waited for the billionaire to finish. "I need to get this out." He huffed as he stared at Peter. "Listen. I'm no good with these touchy-feely, things-need-to-be-said moments, but I'm gonna try. You've got amazing gifts," he said. "You seem to be using those gifts for good, and when I saw that, I came to you for help. I'm sorry for disrupting the quiet-ish life that you had before I swooped in and took you off to Germany," he said, finally getting to the crux of his apology. "I saw what you could do, and I knew you could be an asset, but I didn't really take into consideration the fact that you're a...a high school student. A brilliant student," he added. "But still just a fifteen year old."

Peter barely registered the fact that Stark had gotten his age right, because he was too focused on the rest of what Stark was saying.

"I disrupted your life and I put you in danger. I knew you could hold your own, and I figured Cap wouldn't hurt you too badly if you did get into a fight with him, but I didn't even think about the life you had here. You got hit hard in Germany, and I realized what a mistake I had made in bringing you into my world without any sort of training. You're young, so unprepared; that's why when we came back, I warned you to be careful and not do anything stupid. Then the whole Vulture situation happened, and I realized what an idiot I had been in recruiting someone so young and untrained."

"Mr. Stark, my life is just fine," Peter interrupted. Tony looked frustrated that he had been interrupted again, but Peter steamrolled on, needing to get his two cents in. "My life changed when that spider bit me, but there isn't anything in the world that can change that. Yeah, I was doing fine before you came along, but...but the suit you gave? It's saved my life more than once, and that's thanks to you. I'd be dead if it weren't for the suit."

"Your aunt is right though," Tony said, interrupting Peter this time. "I wasn't thinking; I put you in danger just by bringing you into the picture. Stane surprised all of us tonight, but I should have been expecting it," he said, berating himself. There was a faraway look in Stark's eyes as he said those words.

"Hold on," Peter said. "You can't put this on yourself, because no one had any idea Mr. Stane was alive; you can't blame yourself for not expecting an attack from him. I haven't run into any of your other enemies," he pointed out as an aside.

"Yeah, but it's only a matter of time until you do," Stark argued. "Obie wasn't kidding when he said I've got a lot of them."

"Well, if I do run into more, I'll be careful," Peter said, folding and unfolding his arms in agitation. The two of them stared at each other, determination apparent in both of their eyes. After a few seconds, Stark's eyes narrowed slightly, wanting to show Peter that he was going to win the argument, but the younger man held his gaze firmly. "You're not getting rid of me that easy," the high schooler insisted. Stark blinked, looking confused suddenly.

"Get rid of you?" he asked, sounding slightly incredulous. "What makes you think I'm trying to get rid of you?"

"Uhm-wait, I uh...huh?" Peter asked, not sure how to react to the turn in the conversation. "Isn't that what...you were...trying to do?" he asked, hesitating as his eyebrows lowered in confusion.

"No," Stark said, rolling his eyes. "Even if I were to try and stop you from fighting crime, I think I'd have to take drastic measures to get you to stop. Which believe me, if I were inclined to do so, I would," he added. "But as it is, you are what I thought you would be: an asset. I know you're still wanting to be the friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man and such, which I completely support, but I think it's time that we make the 'Stark Internship' more of a thing," he explained.

"Buuut I thought being Spider-Man _was_ the internship?" Peter asked, wondering what Stark could be planning.

"It was. It still technically is. Pepper and I were talking though, and we both think it's a good idea to have you come to the base and get some actual training, so that next time you're face to face with a large metal man, you're not nearly as inexperienced as you were last night," Stark replied. "I've got some friends who are good at the hand-to-hand stuff, and I think they could teach you a thing or two."

"Maybe I'd teach them a thing or two," Peter replied snarkily, though there wasn't any rebellion in his words. His eyes had gone wide as Stark explained what he was thinking, and Peter knew that the billionaire was right. While the teenager did have talent, and his spidey-senses, he knew he'd managed to skate by on instinct and sheer luck; getting actual training on how to fight was actually a really good idea.

"Maybe you would," Stark agreed. "Who knows. The only other Spider anyone else has fought against has been Black Widow. Now _there's_ someone I'd like to put you up to fight against when you get a little more experience under your belt," Stark said, his mind immediately playing out how he thought the battle between Romanoff and the kid would go. He sat there for a few moments thinking about his new dream fight until he finally shook himself out of his thoughts, meeting Peter's gaze again.

"So whaddya say, Peter?" he asked. "Should we start taking those training wheels off?"

"You know, I think we really need to come up with better protocol names," Peter griped, rolling his eyes.

"Nope. I design the protocols, I name them."

"But it's just embarrassing!" Peter insisted.

"To who? You and your many friends who know your superhero identity?"

Stark and Peter were still arguing over the protocol names when the doctors came back in, followed soon after by May and Pepper. Both of the women had cups of steaming drinks in their hands, and May had grabbed one for her nephew. Peter accepted the drink gratefully and took a sip of the hot chocolate, immediately warming up.

"Guys, could we get just a few more minutes?" Stark asked the medical staff. Folsome glared at Stark and Tony could see he was about to veto the billionaire's request. "I write your paycheck," Stark reminded the doctor before Folsome could argue. Pepper rolled her eyes once again in exasperation at her boyfriend before she turned to the doctor as well.

"Just a few more minutes, guys," she said. "I promise I will come personally get you if we need anything."

The doctor didn't look happy about it, but he finally motioned for the rest of his staff to follow him out the door. Once they were out of the room, Stark looked back at the high schooler still sitting on the chair a few feet from his bed.

"So what do you say, Mr. Parker?" Tony asked again as Pepper came to stand by her boyfriend's side.

"I, uh, well…" Peter trailed off, looking at his aunt, not knowing if she was caught up on what was going on.

"I explained what Tony wants to do," Pepper assured the young man, as if she had read his thoughts.

"She did?" Peter asked, looking back and forth between the redhead to his aunt. "Wha...what did you say?" he finally asked, focusing on his aunt and watching her reaction. She folded her arms across her chest, but her face wasn't nearly as hard as it had been when she'd first arrived.

"You being Spider-Man scares me," she admitted after a few seconds. "I see things on the news, I hear things on the radio while I'm at work, and I just...it scares me, Peter," she repeated. "And that's even before Stark's old dead mentors started showing back up," she added, unfolding her arms and putting her hands on her hips. Her foot was tapping the floor, and Peter knew she was itching to start pacing. The teenager had a brief moment of deja vu back to the conversation he and his aunt had had when she first discovered him in his room in the suit, and he once again held his breath, waiting for her response.

May was biting her lip as she stared at her nephew, examining every inch of him as if seeing him for the first time. "If you're going to continue being Spider-Man, I would prefer that you have some training," she finally said.

Peter felt a huge relief flood over him. "You're serious?" he asked, not wanting to get his hopes up by realizing he had simply imagined his aunt giving him permission to continue being Spider-Man.

"Yes, I'm serious," she confirmed. "I know there's no stopping you from doing your Spider-Man thing, so if you can learn how to take care of yourself more, at least I won't die from the stress you've caused me as quickly."

Peter couldn't stop the grin that split his face, even with his aunt's comment about the stress she was suffering from. May still look frustrated, but a small smile played across her lips when her nephew stood up and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Thank you, Aunt May," he muttered into her hair. May wrapped her arms around her nephew, pulling him in close. The hug was almost the exact same as their one from a few minutes prior. May wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on her tiptoes so that she avoided hitting his injured side, while Peter used his good arm to embrace his aunt. They stood that way for a few seconds before Stark cleared his throat, and Peter and May broke off the hug, though May stuck close to her nephew's uninjured side.

"Good," Stark said. "Now that that's all settled, I think the doc upped my pain medication before he left. I'm going to pass out now." Without further ado, the billionaire shut his eyes, and soon was taking in deep, even breaths. The doctors walked back in a few seconds later, as if they'd been waiting outside the door just for Iron Man to fall asleep.

The nurse walked over to Stark's bedside and began adjusting the knobs on the machines while one of the doctors walked over to Peter and May.

"I just got the results back on your nephew, and everything looks like it's healing up well," he said, taking his glasses off and grabbing his wrists in front of him.

"Can I go home?" Peter asked immediately, wanting to get back to the comfort of his own bed. The doctor sighed; it was almost like he was used to his patients not wanting to stay checked in longer than they absolutely had to.

"You're vitals are good enough that I can't technically keep you here if your aunt agrees to check you out," he explained, somewhat grudgingly. Peter turned almost-pleading eyes on May, who looked at him skeptically.

"What would happen if I didn't check him out?" she asked finally, turning to face the doctor.

"I would keep him in a room overnight for observation," Dr. Folsome explained.

"C'mon," Peter groaned. "What am I gonna do here that I won't be able to do at home?" he queried. "I would literally be laying in bed at either place, and I'd be much more comfortable at home," he argued.

"I should make you stay here just because of what you've put me through the past few hours," May muttered, almost to herself, but still loud enough that Peter and the doctor heard it. Peter pegged her with his best puppy dog expression he had, sticking his bottom lip out ever so slightly. After a few seconds, May finally sighed, and Peter knew he had won.

"I think I'm just going to take him home," she informed the doctor, even if it was in a somewhat resigned voice. "I've been taking nursing classes, so I can deal with minor stuff. Don't worry," she assured the doctor as his mouth slanted sideways. "I know when he's faking and when he's not, so I'll know whether I need to drag him back here or not. I'll keep in touch," she said. The doctor nodded reluctantly, and May turned to Pepper, who had pulled the hospital chair closer to Stark's bedside and had sat herself down.

"Thank you for everything," May said.

"Of course," Pepper said with a warm, sincere smile. "Let us know if you need anything, anything at all," she said, meaning every word of it. May returned the smile and nodded. "If you go down to the parking garage, I'll call Happy and have him meet you and take you home," Pepper added. "That way you'll know it's someone you can trust," she said, directing that sentence mostly at Peter, who nodded.

"Thank you," May said, not entirely sure who Happy was, though Peter seemed to know, so she figured what happened with Ezekiel wouldn't happen again. May and Peter threw their empty cups into the garbage can, and with that, the two of them turned and walked out of the hospital room, down the hallway towards the elevator. Peter was walking slightly slower than normal due to the pain his hip was in from the blast of electricity, and May actually had to slow down to let him catch up with her, even though it was usually the other way around.

They reached the elevator and May pushed the down arrow button. The two of them waited in complete silence for the elevator to reach them. When the lift finally arrived, the two stepped on, and Peter was grateful to see that there was no one else inside. The doors closed and the elevator began moving down, the numbers slowly counting down as they made their way to the parking garage.

"May, I'm so sorry I made you worry," Peter said, turning to face his aunt. The stress of the past twelve hours were starting to hit him full force, and he was slightly appalled to feel the stinging burn of tears gather behind his eyes. As he looked over at May, he saw that she had also begun tearing up, and she once again wrapped her arms around him gently, making sure to avoid his injuries.

"Like I've said before: I'm your aunt. I'm always going to worry about you," she said, sighing heavily as Peter buried his head in her shoulder.

"Yeah, but most aunts don't have to worry about their nephews swinging through the streets of New York," the young man pointed out.

"You're right," May conceded. She looked over at her nephew. "So...it sounds to me like you're saying I should be like normal aunts? I shouldn't have a nephew who swings around the city? Am I hearing that right?"

Peter's eyes widened in slight panic, and he desperately backtracked. "Wha-uh, no, no that's not what I meant. I just meant that, uh, your-"

"Peter, calm down," his aunt said, grabbing his face gently in her hands. "I'm not going to make you stop being Spider-Man. We've already had this conversation before, and if we have it again, I may change my mind," she informed him. "Is that what you want?"

"Nope, no, I'm okay," Peter stated firmly, shaking his head. He stopped that quickly though, because the motion caused his headache to worsen slightly.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" she asked as the elevator doors opened. The two of them stepped off into the parking garage, and Peter spotted Happy at the end of the structure. He waved the bodyguard down and Happy turned the car on, driving over to them. Peter turned back to his aunt to answer her question.

"Of course," he replied. "I've got you looking after me. That's all I've ever needed," Peter added, making May smile and start tearing up again. To avoid crying, Peter's aunt turned to watch the car coming towards them, quickly wiping her eyes to get the tears away.

Happy's car pulled up to the side of them, and the large bodyguard stepped out of the vehicle.

"So you're Happy?" May asked as the bodyguard opened her door for her.

"Yes ma'am," he replied. "I've got instructions to take you and the kid back to your apartment, if that's where you want to go."

"Yes please," May agreed, looking at her nephew and noticing, not for the first time, how tired he looked. He had deep circles under his eyes, though one of those was actually a bruise, she remembered. He was also swaying slightly, his gaze kept going unfocused, and his eyelids kept drooping lower and lower. Happy nodded and waited for her and the kid to slide into the car before he shut the door for them. He then got into the driver's seat, started the car, and began making his way out of the parking garage.

While Happy pulled out of the parking garage, Peter leaned over and laid his head down on his aunt's shoulder, closing his eyes and relaxing into the comforting warmth of his aunt. The world simply faded away as he listened to and felt the vibrations of the car as it drove on the road, and a small, contented puff of air came from his nose. At that precise moment, he knew he was exactly where he needed to be.

 _ **Okay! Like I said, there's going to be a short epilogue coming, but for now, what did you guys think? I wasn't sure if people were OOC or not *shrugs* I guess I can never tell with my own writing if people are in or out of character...**_

 _ **I argued with myself over whether I should have kept Peter in the hospital overnight, and who knows. Maybe I should have done it, but let me know what you guys think! Just make sure that if you do have feedback you'd like to give, make it constructive, and not flaming, otherwise I will ignore it. Or, I'll say I'll ignore it but in reality I'll just feel really crappy about my writing and then not post again for a long time ;) Just...no flames, let's just keep it at that ;)**_


	8. Chapter 8

**_Okay, like I promised: Here is the epilogue for my first multi-chapter Spider-Man story! Longer AN at the bottom :)_**

 ** _I don't own any of these characters_**

 _One Week Later_

Herman Schultz sat down at a table in the cafeteria, glowering at anyone who looked his way. Over the past few months, he'd managed to make his presence in the prison known, and people knew to give him a wide berth. Even without the Shocker armband, he could still pack a mean punch, and the inmates had found that out early on; most of them merely even avoided eye contact with him now.

Schultz looked down at the food on his tray; the gray slop looked even less appetizing than usual, which was saying a lot. He growled under his breath as he threw his fork onto his tray, pushing his meal away from him slightly. He put his elbows on the table and put his head in his hands as he watched the rest of the prisoners wander around.

The TV in the cafeteria was always on mute, but the picture was still clear, and when Schultz looked up, it made his blood boil to once again see the red-and-blue spandex clad hero swinging through the streets on his webs. Schultz's teeth were grinding together so hard that if people were sitting near him, they would have been able to hear them.

He took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, but that did little to help him. He was still sitting there when he felt and heard someone come up behind him.

"Mind if I sit down?" the newcomer asked.

Schultz looked behind him and saw a young man, probably in his mid-twenties standing there with his own tray of food. Schultz vaguely recognized the young man; he had arrived at the prison just a few days ago, but no one really seemed to know much about him. Kid kept to himself and didn't cause any trouble; at least he hadn't as of yet.

Schultz didn't say anything, and that seemed to give the newcomer the idea that it was Schultz granting him permission to sit down, which he did. Schultz gave him a sideways glance, clearly warning the kid that he wasn't in the mood for any sort of games. The newcomer set his tray down and held his hands up in a peaceful gesture.

"I'm not looking to cause any trouble," he said as if he'd heard the other man's thoughts. "I've just got something to offer that I thought you might be interested in."

"Look kid, I dunno who you are or what it is you somehow have illegal access to, but I'm all good. I don't need anything from the outside," Schultz said, hoping his disinterest would discourage the young man and he would leave him in peace.

"No, nothing like that," the young man said, causing Schultz to roll his eyes in annoyance. "You are Herman Schultz, right?" the kid asked, though it was phrased so that Schultz knew the kid already knew the answer.

"That depends on who wants to know, and why," Schultz responded, grabbing his cup of water and chugging several gulps until the cup was empty.

"My name is Ezekiel Stane," the young man said. Schultz's eyebrow quirked; the name Stane sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember why. He shrugged after a moment of trying to come up with why the name sounded familiar, giving up. He knew that if it was important, it would come up. "As for why I want to know, I hear you have a bone to pick with Spider-Man," Stane stated. Schultz eyed him skeptically.

"Even if I did, what's it to you?"

Ezekiel turned on the bench so that he was facing Schultz head on, and he waited until Schultz apparently felt either curious enough, uncomfortable enough, or just plain bored enough that he turned to face the kid as well. "He and Tony Stark ruined my father's and my life," Stane said, hatred welling in his eyes. "I figured that we could team up and take them both down together," he proposed.

"Look kid," Schultz said with a chuckle as he turned back to his tray of untouched food. "I don't know what you heard, but the last people I teamed up with have kinda left me on my own; I'm not really in the mood to start another team so quickly. Besides," he said, glancing sideways at Stane one last time. "I don't actually know who the kid is. I know he goes to high school at some fancy tech school in New York, but that's all I know. I never actually got to know the kid's identity."

"What would you say if I told you I actually knew who he is under that mask?" Stane asked slyly. That piqued Schultz's interest, and he turned to face the kid again.

"And how did you, of all people, get to know that information?" the older man asked, not sure if he believed the kid or not.

"How I know isn't important at the moment; what _is_ important is that I've got an idea and a way to let us get our revenge from inside here," Stane said.

"What do you get out of it?" Schultz asked. "You mentioned something about Stark, and while I don't like the man, I'm not really looking for a way to get on his bad side. All I care about is the Spider."

"By getting at Spider-Man, we can hurt Tony Stark, and that's what I care about," Stane said vehemently.

Schultz weighed his options. On the one hand, this kid could be completely off his rocker, and by agreeing to work with him, Herman could potentially ruin a chance that he could get out early on good behavior and ruin _any_ chance he had at getting back at Spider-Man. On the other hand, if this weirdly enthusiastic kid did actually have an idea, it could help him get revenge on the teenage hero much faster than he had ever expected.

"I'm listening," he finally told the kid. "If I don't like what I hear though, I'm gonna go over to those dudes over there and tell them that you said some rather unkind things about their mothers," Schultz warned, nodding his head towards a few of the larger, more muscular inmates sitting a few tables away.

Stane smirked, and Schultz couldn't help but admire the confidence the kid had in himself. Admire, as well as be a little irked by it.

"Spider-Man's gaining more and more momentum," Stane said eagerly now that he had Schultz's full attention. "More and more of the people in prison are getting put there by him, and the more that get put in here, the bigger our revenge can be."

Schultz listened as Ezekiel laid out his plan, and a slow grin spread over his face. There were a few holes in the plan, but they were small, easily taken care of. When Stane finally finished explaining his plan, Schultz shook his head in wonder.

"Let's set ourselves a trap for a spider," he said, shaking hands with his new partner.

 _ **...Ta daaaaaa... I feel like it was kind of a weird place to end? What do you guys think? Would you like to see a sequel someday?**_

 _ **I would love to hear what your thoughts are as far as this story goes! Did you guys like it? Would you want to see any improvement in my writing anywhere? I would love feedback, but once again, only as long as it's constructive and not flaming :)**_

 _ **Thank you all so much for the support you guys have shown this story! You really made me feel welcome for my first Spidey story, and I've got 4 other tabs open with other Spidey story ideas if you guys are interested in more stories from me? Let me know!**_


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